Set up a medical ID on your Phone that can be viewed even when your phone is locked

In an emergency situation, seconds matter. If you are unconscious or otherwise unable to communicate, emergency services need a way to quickly find out who you are, what medical conditions you have and who your next of kin is.

With over 80% of the population owning a smart phone, it can be a great resource for emergency services, but it’s up to us to make the information available to them. There is a great feature for iPhone, which allows emergency services to access your medical information even when you phone is passcode locked and it’s super easy to set up.

1. Open the ‘Health’ app on your phone (you don’t need to download this app, it’s’ automatically on all iPhones).
2. Click on the ‘Medical ID’ tab and click ‘Create Medical ID’.
3. Fill out all of your details including name, medical conditions, medications, emergency contacts and blood type.
4. Click done at the top right.

The details you put in will now be accessible from the locked screen by clicking ’emergency’.

For Android and Windows phone users, you will need to download an app. There are dozens of them, just search the keywords Medical ID or ICE (In Case of Emergency).

Another simple hack that can be used on any phone is to open up a note taking app, any one will do, type in your details such as your name, next of kin phone number and your medical conditions. Take a screenshot of the note (on most devices this is done by pressing the home and power buttons at the same time). Then simply set the photo as your wallpaper and it we be viewable from the lock screen.

Bonus tip! If you lose your phone, the finder can use the next of kin contacts to get your phone back to you.

Did you know this feature existed? Will you set it up on your phone?