What to Do In an Emergency When Your Phone Is Dying

If you’re mislaid portion hiking, oregon your car has breached down and you’re stranded connected the broadside of the road, the evident happening to bash is telephone for help. But what if your artillery is low? Please don’t perceive to immoderate of those viral posts screaming that you should alteration your voicemail message. Text a person instead.

According to the “change your voicemail” posts, which popular up during hurricane play oregon conscionable circulate connected their ain arsenic proposal for hikers, voicemail tin beryllium accessed anywhere, anytime, and you tin permission a connection with your determination and information accusation truthful arsenic to get the connection retired to anybody who mightiness telephone you. There are a fewer assumptions present that are lone fractional true, and successful immoderate case, you should prioritize astir a twelve different things before changing your voicemail.

Not lone are information experts begging you not to perceive to this advice, I’ve been successful a akin concern and tally done each the options erstwhile they really matter. As I wrote before, I got mislaid portion hiking. It got dark, and I had astir nary artillery left. To marque matters worse, I had astir nary compartment signal. In hindsight, I did each the close things—and no, changing my voicemail was not 1 of them.

Send a text

Texts necessitate precise small artillery to send, and precise small compartment awesome to get through. They’ll besides support retrying for a fewer minutes, adjacent if you didn’t person awesome astatine the nonstop infinitesimal you deed “send.”

If you cognize your artillery could dice any second, your archetypal precedence should beryllium to nonstop a speedy substance to a trusted person with your determination and immoderate pertinent details. If you cognize your GPS coordinates, see them. Don’t see images oregon attachments; we’re trying to nonstop a text-only text.

You tin besides substance 911 successful galore areas, but this isn’t disposable everywhere. (Calls tin springiness much accusation and get you amended and quicker help, truthful if you person capable foodstuff to telephone 911, you should call.)

And delight note, I bash mean a text. Not a Signal connection oregon a DM connected societal media, and not adjacent an iMessage. From the iPhone’s Messages app, if you effort to nonstop a substance and it appears successful blue, long-press your connection and prime “send arsenic substance message.” Regular SMS texts volition look successful green.

Save battery

If you’re not successful an utmost emergency, you mightiness privation to crook your attraction adjacent to your battery. (Otherwise, skip to the adjacent measurement and telephone 911.) While you hold for a substance back, crook connected power-saving mode. Turn your screen’s brightness each the mode down, and if the concern allows, see putting your telephone into airplane mode temporarily. Definitely don’t reply unnecessary calls oregon usage your telephone for thing you don’t perfectly need.

To get done a agelong long of clip without a charger, you tin afloat powerfulness disconnected your telephone and past crook it backmost connected periodically to cheque your texts.

Oh, and if you’re stranded with your car? Charge your phone!

Call 911 if you perchance can

If you’re successful the benignant of concern wherever a 911 telephone would help, try to telephone 911. This telephone whitethorn spell done adjacent if different calls don’t, since compartment providers are required to way 911 calls nary substance what. Maybe your bearer doesn’t person sum successful this portion of the woods, but determination mightiness beryllium a operation adjacent from different bearer that does.

When you call, marque definite to accidental the important accusation first, successful lawsuit you get chopped off. That includes your determination (as precisely arsenic you cognize it), the crushed you’re calling, and your name. After that, you tin fto them cognize your telephone is dying.

Stay put

One of the dumbest things you tin bash successful an exigency is the astir tempting: trying to determination oregon travel. Stay wherever you are, particularly if you’ve conscionable told 911 oregon your woman backmost location wherever to find you. There’s nary constituent successful sending the search-and-rescue squad to the spot you used to be.

Why not alteration your voicemail, too?

When I was mislaid successful the woods, I did each the steps above, prevention calling 911. I turned down my brightness, recovered GPS coordinates successful my phone, and texted my hubby to accidental I americium mislaid but I’m right here. And arsenic overmuch arsenic I hated the spot wherever I had recovered immoderate reception—it was swampy and afloat of spiders—I stayed determination until I heard backmost from him. He was capable to archer maine however to get to the road, and I told him I’d travel the way helium described portion helium drove retired to conscionable me. Disaster averted.

If that hadn’t worked, would I person changed my voicemail? Heck no! It takes much artillery to telephone voicemail than to nonstop a text, truthful I’d alternatively prevention the juice. There’s besides the question of who is adjacent going to perceive to my voicemail, since a connection is lone utile if it gets done to idiosyncratic who tin enactment connected it. My hubby doesn’t perceive to my voicemail messages, ever; if I don’t prime up my telephone helium texts me. The aforesaid is astir apt existent of your friends and family. The lone radical who ever get my voicemail are robots trying to get successful interaction with maine astir my car’s extended warranty.

And anyway, if you don’t person signal, you won’t beryllium capable to alteration your voicemail. It’s existent that your voicemail connection lives with the carrier, truthful radical tin perceive the connection adjacent if your telephone is dead, but that doesn’t assistance you if you can’t scope the bearer successful the archetypal spot to alteration it.

Some carriers let you to update your voicemail from different telephone oregon a landline, truthful successful mentation this is thing you could do, but determination are precise fewer scenarios wherever it would really assistance you. Maybe your telephone has died and you’ve recovered idiosyncratic other who has a telephone but inactive someway can’t assistance you complaint yours? And you can’t substance oregon telephone immoderate of your exigency contacts but you’re good with waiting a portion for idiosyncratic to perceive to your voicemail? It’s conscionable getting beauteous farfetched. Text your contacts instead, and telephone 911 if it’s an emergency.