A young man from Middle Tennessee used Siri to make a 911 call that saved his life. The story is making the rounds across news websites today in part because it’s an interesting story. At the same time, the story inadvertently emphasizes how useful Apple’s virtual assistant can be.
Sam Ray is an 18-year-old from Middle Tennessee. He was working on his truck when a jack collapsed. As a result, he found himself pinned under the 5,000 pound truck. This incident occurred in what the Chicago Tribune describes as “a location where he couldn’t be easily seen or heard”.
Fortunately, Sam Ray had an iPhone. In his struggle to get free, he somehow activated Siri. When he heard Siri activate, he said “Call 911”. The dispatcher who received the call thought it was a “pocket dial” at first, but then heard screaming. Sam Ray was able to tell the dispatcher the address of where he was located, and was rescued by volunteer firefighters about 40 minutes later.
He ended up with broken ribs, a bruised kidney, cuts, a concussion, and burns on one arm. It could have been worse, especially if he was not able to make that 911 call.
Siri is available on iPhone 4s or later, iPad (third generation or later), iPad mini, and iPod Touch (fifth generation or later). It is unclear whether or not Sam Ray was using iOS 8, which allows users to go into their settings and activate the “Hey Siri” function. Once that it turned on, a person can activate Siri by saying “Hey Siri”. They wouldn’t have to touch the phone to get Siri’s attention.
In July of this year, The Verge reported that if you ask Siri to “charge my phone 100 percent”, Siri calls emergency services. Siri gives you a 5 second window to cancel the call.
The reason seems to be that Siri reacts to a request that includes a number with the word “phone” after it as though the user intended Siri to dial that phone number for them. I can see where a person who is in a domestic violence situation could ask Siri to “charge my phone 100 percent” as a way of calling for help without the abuser being aware of it.