My iPhone accidentally went into SOS mode, and I’m unsure how to turn it off. It seems stuck, and I need guidance on what steps to take. Can someone explain how to solve this issue quickly?
Oh, SOS mode? Yeah, it’s kind of dramatic for no reason sometimes—like chill, phone, I didn’t need your life-or-death energy right now. Anyway, here’s the fix:
First, just press and hold the power button and either of the volume buttons until the slider thingy to turn it off shows up. Drag that slider to, you know, turn off your phone. If it doesn’t respond and gets all stubborn (c’mon, Apple), try a force restart: quickly press and release the volume up button, then the volume down button, and then hold the power button until the Apple logo appears. That usually smacks it back to normal mode.
If it still seems stuck, like it won’t quit, check your settings. Go to Settings > Emergency SOS and see if the “Auto Call” option is turned on—it might have accidentally gone rogue. Adjust that as needed so it stops bailing you out when you don’t need saving.
Oh, and FYI, if it called emergency services while you weren’t paying attention, yeah… you’re probably already flagged as a prankster. They might not find it hilarious. So keep your phone steady next time, alright?
Sounds like your iPhone is having a bit of an overly dramatic moment, huh? OK, so SOS mode—fun stuff. If what @codecrafter mentioned doesn’t fully do the trick, here’s another angle you might try.
First, did you confirm that the SOS call actually ended? If not and it’s STILL showing the emergency screen, swipe up on the screen like you’re dismissing an app card on the iPhone, and it might exit back to the home screen. Sometimes it just glitches there for no reason and pretends it’s stuck.
If the full restart isn’t your vibe or it feels overkill, try toggling off “Raise to Wake” in Settings > Display & Brightness. Why? Because sometimes physical movement triggers that SOS shortcut without realizing it. Sort of like a wild reflex feature that’s really extra when it kicks in. You don’t HAVE to keep that off, but if you’re accidentally doing SOS too often, it’s worth disabling.
And hey, while we’re at it, you might wanna look into how tightly set your Emergency SOS shortcut settings are. Two power button presses, five presses—whatever it’s set to in your Settings > Emergency SOS. It’s more sensitive than a reality show contestant sometimes, so adjusting those shortcuts might help prevent more freak-outs in the future. Doesn’t mean it’ll stop the drama EVERY time, but it’ll at least lower the odds.
Oh, and major side note—if none of this works, AND your phone’s glitching like it’s auditioning for a tech horror movie, restore it through iTunes or Finder. Extreme, yeah, but you’d be resetting everything to clean it up in a worst-case scenario. Backup first, though. Can’t stress that enough.
Feel free to disagree, but sometimes I think Apple made SOS mode just to troll us. Because WHY does it escalate so fast for the simplest inputs? Anyway, rant over—hope one of these works for ya.
Alright, let’s de-SOS your iPhone with another spin on it. While @jeff and @codecrafter laid down some solid fixes, let’s add a bit of spice without recycling their stuff.
Here’s a quick flowchart of alternate strategies:
1. Make sure SOS didn’t summon The Avengers (a.k.a emergency services): Double-check your call log in the Phone app. Even if it shows SOS ended, sometimes the phone doesn’t update visually. If it’s still red and alarming, a call might still be in process—hang up before anything escalates.
2. Switch up your settings as a long-term fix:
Go to Settings > Emergency SOS. Toggle off Hold Side Button or Call with Side Button (depending on your setup). With these off, it’ll stop jumping to conclusions every time you squeeze your phone like a stress ball.
3. Test Accessibility Settings for hardware glitches:
In Settings > Accessibility > Side Button, make sure an odd delay or sensitivity isn’t enabling SOS unwarrantedly. Sometimes Accessibility settings sync weirdly with physical button presses. You can also enable “Ignore Repeat” under Accessibility > Touch. Helps for people fidgeting with side buttons.
4. Going nuclear—check for rogue updates or corrupted software:
Connect to a computer (or use Finder/iTunes—yes, old habits die hard). Update firmware without wiping data by opening Recovery Mode (slightly tedious but thorough). A broken update can be the hidden culprit behind SOS hijinks. You’re looking for the not-so-fun update rollbacks to reset the system bugs.
Pros and cons of disabling SOS entirely:
Pros: No more accidental alerting the world like someone in distress. Less heart-stopping sudden alarms.
Cons: If a real emergency happens, you’ll sigh and need extra steps or another setting tweak. SOS’s speed is a useful “just in case.”
Competitor feedback? A bit of “meh”:
Yes, @jeff and @codecrafter nailed key points like force restart and settings adjustments, but relying on a full-on force restart or turning off “Raise to Wake” can feel drastic for some users. Apple’s gesture intuitions are generally smooth, and disabling them for one feature mess is like removing a car’s engine to stop a rattle.
Final Thought: Fix the immediate problem AND investigate patterns in your usage that might trigger the SOS shortcut. Random freak-outs often stem from accidental presses or low system responsiveness—so get your phone feeling like itself again without going overkill.