Apple expands Emergency SOS live video feature to more countries

Apple announced it has expanded its Emergency SOS Live Video feature to additional countries, allowing emergency services to stream live footage directly from an iPhone user's camera during a call. The rollout was developed in partnership with RapidSOS, a platform that works with public safety and emergency communications agencies. Under the new feature, dispatchers can send a request to share live video when they believe it would help assess a situation. Users must approve the prompt on screen before their camera feed is transmitted, and Apple said the decision to share is entirely up to the user. The stream can be declined or stopped by the user at any point, and the shared video may be retained by emergency services according to their own procedures. Apple said the feature operates with end-to-end encryption by default, adding a layer of protection while footage is transmitted to response teams. Live streaming cannot be initiated by users on their own; it begins only after an emergency responder determines the video could provide important information about an incident. The feature is available on iPhone 14 and later models, subject to device and service eligibility.