Colorado ski town fielding dozens of automated 911 calls from iPhones
My pixel 4a5g running LineageOS did it on me one day from pressing the on&#x2F;off button a few times in rapid succession. I had no idea it would do that. I was just in the final stages of trying to get any reaction out of it because the screen was not coming on. Turns out the phone was still running and working but the screen had died.<p>I don&#x27;t think any of these too-automatic and non-apparent things are a good idea. I had no intention to call 911, and I had not intentionally configured that action. I&#x27;m just glad the speaker and mic still worked and I was able to hear the operator and respond to them.<p>I don&#x27;t even see how this one even helps anyone even in theory. Is it even any faster than dialing 911? If I <i>were</i> in an emergency, would I remember some weird trick like that at a time like that? Are they thinking that people in duress will rapidly and repeatedly squeez their phone naturally and so it dials when needed without you consciouly needing to?<p>I guess maybe the theory is that in any kind of car or bike crash, or even ordinary fall or violence, there is a good chance the violence will have damaged the phone&#x27;s most fragile part, but just like in my case the phone still worked. So it&#x27;s actually somewhat likely to be a valuable option to have some way to dial 911 witbout a working screen. Ok maybe I guess.