iOS 15.4 beta 3 prompts people to add an emergency contact just in case

Emergency SOS on iPhone (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

Apple's new iOS 15.4 beta has begun to prompt people to update their Emergency SOS settings.
People who don't have an emergency contact are being prompted to set one up.
Apple's iOS 15.4 beta 3 release was made available to developers earlier today.

Apple is suggesting that people update their Emergency SOS details after updating to iOS 15.4 beta 3, with those who have not yet set up an emergency contact being pushed towards doing just that.

The iOS 15.4 beta 3 release was released earlier today and a number of people report that they are now being prompted to update their Emergency SOS settings. While I haven't seen that happen myself, 9to5Mac reports that the prompt is only being sent to people who don't have an emergency contact already configured.

9to5Mac was able to confirm that the alert was added to the system in today's build based on internal iOS files. However, while what triggers the prompt is unknown, it seems that it only appears for users who don't have emergency contacts set up on their iPhone. Tapping the prompt takes the user to the Emergency SOS settings.

Emergency SOS allows an iPhone to reach out to emergency contacts and provide the device's last known location. It's a feature that has been known to save lives, both on iPhone and Apple Watch. In fact, it's arguably the best Apple Watch feature that too many don't realize exists.

The latest iOS 15.4 beta 3 release is available to developers now and will likely be made available to those on the public beta program as soon as tomorrow. Everyone else should get it this spring, all being well.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.