I learned something today.

I was out in the woods today and out of the blue my son called and wanted to know if I was okay. He said he received an emergency text message saying I needed help, along with two photos and a GPS map with a pin showing my Lat/Long. I assured him I was okay and that I didn't know how it happened. I didn't know my phone was capable of doing that. A few minutes later my daughter also called for the same reason.

Apparently it is a feature of Samsung Galaxy phones that if you press the power button three times in a row within a certain time interval, it will automatically send a request for help to your emergency contacts. I don't recall pressing the power button three times, but apparently I did. So, Now I know how to do that if I ever need to do that.

The only problem with the emergency text was the location where it showed me to be was over 1440 yards (0.8 miles) line of sight from where I actually was.

Probably you got abducted by alliens at that location and were able to click your heels three times to set off the alarm. Time warp effect erased the event and slight location shift occurred to further confuse you.
Bill D

Lee, iOS has a similar emergency feature that will contact designated folks should you do a certain combination of presses. (I have that turned off on my phone because it's too easy to false notify while taking my phone in and out of my belt holster where it lives. As to accuracy, it's only as accurate as the device signals to multiple towers can triangulate from. In some places, you may not have at least three towers that can see you. GPS signals in the devices have similar challenges in some places due to topology.

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Originally Posted by Jim Becker

Lee, iOS has a similar emergency feature that will contact designated folks should you do a certain combination of presses. (I have that turned off on my phone because it's too easy to false notify while taking my phone in and out of my belt holster where it lives. As to accuracy, it's only as accurate as the device signals to multiple towers can triangulate from. In some places, you may not have at least three towers that can see you. GPS signals in the devices have similar challenges in some places due to topology.

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I've had this phone since July 2018 and this is the first time it has sent an emergency text, a feature I wasn't aware of. I have no idea how many cell towers were in contact with my phone in that location. I had been within 3 feet of the same spot for more than 6 hours. While at the same spot, I used google maps and it correctly identified where I was at the time.

This reminds me of the day a Policeman showed up at our door in response to a 911 call and found a Ninja Turtle hanging on to the phone cord with one hand and a sheepish boy hiding behind his mom, insisting that Donatello had made the call.