How to create an EMERGENCY folder on a mobile device (and what to put inside)

Oh. OK. Thanks. Maybe that health app is only on the phone, but still, it's not a big deal (I like the emergency-SMS apps I outlined better, for example, as they do what we'd need in an emergency before we're dead.)

That health app, which, I guess does its job *after* you're dead and your screen is still locked, doesn't seem to exist on "my" iPad, at least not if it's named "health.anything".

My iPad was, on purpose, kept on 7.x for as long as possible (since Apple screws up things outside the walled garden) so when I was forced to move (due to kids complaining games no longer would work on 7.x) it was to

Since the health app came with iOS 8, maybe that's why I don't have it? Or do none of the iPads have that Health app by default?

Based on the response, people don't seem to create much of an emergency folder nor do they do much about emergency apps.

Googling for apps, most found seem to be cross platform (as they should be), so, it's not an iOS or Android-specific problem - but relates to all mobile devices.

The plethora of supposed emergency apps is apparent from just the first few Google hits, as everyone seems to want to get in on the bandwagon, so it would take a *lot* of effort to come up with the best apps on my own.

Since others aren't adding much value, we'll probably get nowhere further on this task, but to help out a bit, I'll review the next hit after briefly skimming it for useful details...

iPhone/iPad Apps for emergencies

Here's just my first impression of the free ones, in order:

1. wikiHow: How to and DIY Survival Kit (jesus ... are they serious?)
2. RepairPal: Auto Repair Expert (omg ... they are serious?)
3. iWrecked - Auto accident assistant (jesus christ ... they're serious?)
4. Winter Survival Kit (omg ... more of the same)
5. iTriage (jesus ... more crap)
6. SPOT Connect (a satellite service - but how does it work?)

Other than the potential for "SPOT Connect" to be a potentially useful app, the rest, based only on my initial inspection, defy any real definition other than "jesus christ ... are they serious?".

Let's hope the next hit is better:

Looking at the list of 50 emergency apps that "turn your phone into a life-saving device"...

Skimming the list, and eliminating all the "Diy emergency" apps out of hand, at the beginning, there's the normal ICE stuff after the crap-DIY stuff (both of which I find to be basically useless), and then there are "organizational stuff" apps.

For example... Who know the Red Cross has emergency apps such as this:

Wildfire - American Red Cross By American Red Cross

Interestingly, along with all the "disaster alert" apps, they do have the scanner app we've been touting as KISS and unobtrusively free, namely

The article touts an app called "Map Droyd" which claims it works without cell service (duh, all offline maps work that way), so I don't know what the big deal is, but I hadn't heard of "map droyd" before so I'll check it out separately.

There's also "Google Sky Map" (which I didn't know existed either), which maps the stars. Having grown up hiking and camping all the time, I can navigate by the stars on my own in the northern hemisphere, but it's probably useful for others who don't know how to tell direction from a quick glance through clouds at the sky.

The isocline map they tout is "Back Country Navigator", and the OSM map they list is "GPS Grid Reference". They tout MotionX GPS Drive for offline use navigating on roads, and again we see the potentially useful "Spot Connect" which purports to use satellite messaging (which I'm not sure how exactly that works from a non-satellite phone when you have no signal whatsoever).

After the map selection, there is a ton of cpr-related medical garbage, and then we see "red panic button" again, which seems simple enough to be somewhat useful if set up correctly.

After that, there were the inevitable scare mongering social networking apps such as life360 and social alert...

And the article ends with a handful of completely unrelated apps that they claim are useful, but in that list are "calculator" and "camera", so, it's a waste of time to get that far into the article before it ends.

Overall, only two apps strike me as potentially worth a second look, which are the satellite connection app (how the heck *can* it work?) and the panic button app - which seems simple enough if it doesn't require logins and idiotic marketing stuff to work).

Horace Algier wrote

Yep.

But no need to put it in any emergency folder or anything similar, because once its setup, it happens completely automatically. That's why I meant to delete that bit that I first thought that you were talking about when I realised that you meant something else, and forgot to edit that out from my original response before I hit the send button.

Sure.

Yeah, pretty similar on iOS and since much of what I want in that regard isnt unique to emergency situations but are used all the time like google maps and other stuff like that, no need to put them in an emergency folder or anything like that, although I spose that might make some sense when setting those up for someone else on their phone etc particularly if they are the sort of person who might well end up rather flustered in an emergency situation etc.

But IMO it makes more sense to have emergency phone numbers in a group in the standard contacts because that is where it makes rather more sense to have emergency phone numbers IMO. Or best to have the numbers in both so wherever anyone looks, they will be found immediately which would be useful in an emergency.

I think there is something to be said for an app that either works out when you have got up and if you haven't, eventually asks if you are alright and if you don?t respond, calls the numbers you specify. That would be useful for those who live alone and would hopefully catch most of the situations where you say fall and can't get up and don?t have your phone with you at the time and so can't call for assistance yourself etc.

That's correct, its only on the iphones and ipod touchs.

...but

it seems to no longer work that way in iOS 10.0.2.

Not here (Android 2.3.5): I long press on an app icon (in the display of all apps) and an options dialogue comes up: [ Add to Home | Add to group ].

Or, I long press on an app icon on a home screen and when the icon vibrates I can drag it elsewhere, wherever I want.

But rename it? Sorry, not here. Cheers, -- tlvp

You need a launcher that supports naming. I realize you are on Andriod 2.x while I'm on 4.x, but one question for you:

Does your Android support the Nova free launcher?

If it does, Nova free is fantastic and does a *lot* of things the stock launchers don't do (e.g., mine came with the TouchWiz launcher which sucks by way of comparison).

I was thinking about that old American commercial, a few decades ago, where an old lady falls down the stairs and says "I've fallen and I can't get up".

It was perfectly tuned MARKETING fear mongering, and FUD worked as well then as it does now.

Still, for those who *need* it, I can't possibly disagree with you, that it will make them *feel* safe to have the app constantly nag them to ask if they're OK.

I could even use it, I guess, when I go pot farmer hunting ... :)

Pssst.... it won't help me because *feeling* safe and *being* safe are two totally different things ... but they might be able to locate the body for a decent burial.

Since iOS people buy the things primarily to *feel* safe, it's not surprising that some people tout this rather minor and privacy invasive e lock-screen ICE note as a "safety" feature.

I don't have an iPhone (I have iPads), so, if the Medical ID is *designed* to *require* a log in to an Internet site, it's doubly bad (from a privacy standpoint).

Even in iOS8 on an iPhone, others have made persuasive arguments *not* to use this Medical ID "feature", as outlined in this article:

Since you said something changed in iOS 10 with respect to this ICE feature, I found this: How to Access Medical ID from Lock Screen in iOS 10 on iPhone/iPad

It doesn't say anything about iOS 10.0.2, per se, and a quick search didn't find anything related to the Medical ID in 10.0.2 specifically, so I'm not sure what you're alluding to when you say it no longer works that way in

In short though, Medical ID is exactly what I'd expect from Apple users who merely want to *feel* safe, without actually *being* safe.

snip...

Simple answer is: if you've been sensible and put a strong passcode on your phone then anything in this EMERGENCY folder will be pretty much useless unless someone manages to break into your phone if they lay hands on it. All I do on my Android devices is to enter a 'lock screen message' which shows my name, mailing address (P.O. Box, not actual street address) and several emergency contact numbers.

(...)

I like to carry *SEARCHABLE* documents instead of apps. For example:

You might want to add in NIFOG (National Interoperability Field Operations Guide) from our friends at the DHS. There quite a bit of useful info in

Per Horace Algier:

Another advantage, if you have to use multiple devices, is uniformity: put Nova on all devices and they all look/act the same.

It would help plenty who live alone who have a bad fall and can't get up. There are a few of those on the reality TV series and some found dead who didn?t manage to get any help too.

And it happened to a mate of mine too who was so obscenely obese that he managed to fall down behind the bed and it took a crew of at least 6 emergency personnel to get him up again. In his case his wife could call them, but if he had been living alone, it would have avoided him ending up dead.

Just another bare faced lie/pathetic excuse for a troll...

Corse it?s a safety feature when you are no longer capable of telling the paramedics or hospital who you are etc.

It doesn?t. Its just a lock that prevents anyone who comes across the phone from using it, no logon to any internet site involved.

Having fun thrashing that straw man ?

For other reasons, just privacy, because some fools are mindlessly paranoid about their 'privacy' and take stupid unnecessary risks to 'protect' it.

I haven't checked it myself. I do run 10.0.2 but haven't setup the medical id because I don?t have any medical conditions for which it would be useful and because if I am ever found unconscious or completely out of it so badly that I can't identify myself, it will be completely trivial to work out who I am.

Even sillier than you usually manage/even more of a pathetic excuse for a troll than you usually manage.

John McGaw wrote

He's actually talking about what he uses himself in emergency situations.

That?s not the sort of emergency he is talking about.

Why a folder? There are multiple 'home' screens available and these theoretically useful apps can just be placed on, lets say, the last one. As one thinks of new possibilities they can be placed there and if they later seem to be of less use they can be removed. I can't actually think of too many apps that would be useful only in an emergency and only in an emergency since they come in an infinite number of forms. Personally I keep a 'daily' screen, a 'news and information' screen, a 'travel' screen, and an 'entertainment' screen. Guess I could move some stuff around and have 'emergency' one at the end. Just me, I guess...

John McGaw wrote

He's that obsessively anal. He forces his kids to use his folder arrangements and locks their devices down so they can't change that stuff. He hasn?t realised that they will be picking his nursing home...

He's too obsessively anal for that.

Me neither. Tho you can certainly make a case for having icons for the stuff you do use in an emergency in a single emergency folder where they are all grouped together and where you can see them all at once, in a system which allows duplicate icons for the stuff that is useful in an emergency.

Not really that infinite.

I don?t myself, I have the one main screen and have a few folders on that for the groups of stuff like banks and other financial institutions like credit unions, clouds, shopping etc, basically so that I do almost everything from that one main screen.

I think its better to have an emergency folder on the main screen for those who can get flustered in an emergency. I don?t, so don?t bother myself.

I'd be surprised if some don?t do it that way too.

That's essentially what was asking, who does what, and why do they do it the way they do.