How to Remove SOS From Lock Screen on Android

What happens when an Emergency SOS is placed?

The current location of the device will be received by the emergency service. They could send an agent to verify the person. Some phones also have an option to save your medical information so that it is easily accessible in such a scenario.

How to make an emergency SOS call from the lock screen of current Android phones?

There are 2 ways. Although I am referring here to a Xiaomi phone, placing an SOS would be similar on a Samsung/Google/Oneplus/Nokia or other Android device.

• Use 3/5 quick presses of the power button to make an automatic SOS call.
• Swipe to lock screen, dial emergency call button from lock screen. These can also occur due to unintended button presses/keys.

There are 2 main reasons for this feature, one to help the owner of the phone quickly contact emergency services or to help a passerby rescue the owner of the phone if the person is in no condition to dial them -even for help. It is a regulatory requirement to include this feature by all phone manufacturers. However, there may be instances where an unintended emergency call is made due to direct dialing or your child playing on your phone. This can result in a waste of time and resources for the emergency services. Some might want to disable the feature so they don’t call emergency services by mistake.

Let’s look at workarounds to disable accidental calling of emergency services:

To disable the case of autodial due to rapid power button presses:
The disable setting is in the following path ->

Settings -> Passwords & Security -> Emergency SOS.

Select disable. You can also access the above by searching for Emergency in the settings search bar. The image above is from redmi.

To disable SOS call from PIN/fingerprint system lock screen on non-rooted device:

• Disable system locks like PIN/fingerprint.
• Install a third-party lock screen app like Lock screen From Google Play Store, give it permissions to allow drawing over other apps and change system settings. Then set a new PIN for the app. This will show the new lock screen every time the user swipes the phone. There are many other lock screen apps similar to the above. They work more or less the same, i.e. replace the android lock screen with a custom screen without an emergency call button.

To disable SOS calling from the PIN/fingerprint system lock screen on a rooted device:

If you’re a phone-tweaking tech enthusiast and want to own a rooted Android device, you might want to either:

• Root your phone then find a custom ROM that removed emergency call services or hack the source code yourself, build one and flash the device.
• Root your device, then install Lsposed/Xposed modules like Tweakbox, Xsense or gravity box, enable these modules which allow you to change the icons of the lock screen, including the emergency call button. However, on research a bit on these, I couldn’t find a working module for Android 12. It doesn’t seem that these modules are actively supported. There is a module under development called AOSP mods which people rave about. Can be tried. One should also understand the risk of rooting an Android device, it can lead to data loss or bricked phone in the worst case.

One can also change the emergency contact numbers from the settings menu to dial your family instead of 911. This may be an acceptable solution rather than disabling it.