What is SOS Mode on an iPhone?
SOS mode serves as a safety tool on iPhone devices to provide instant emergency service access to users facing dangerous situations. The occurrence of iPhone SOS mode might become problematic and troublesome for users when their phones become trapped within this condition. When this situation occurs, your iPhone status bar displays “SOS” or “SOS only” while blocking regular phone calls and text messages and data usage.
The situation of your iPhone trapped in SOS mode requires no panic. The following easy solutions will restore your device to its normal state.
The reason behind my iPhone’s trapped position in SOS mode remains unidentified.
These reasons could possibly make your iPhone stick to SOS mode:
- Your iPhone will support emergency phone calls exclusively whenever it detects a non-functional cellular transmission from your phone carrier.
- The system can enter and stay in SOS mode because of an iOS software malfunction.
- This issue occurs due to network provider problems, which occasionally lead to this error.
- The phone cannot contact your carrier because of a faulty or incorrectly placed SIM card.
- Your iPhone could remain with SOS mode because you unintentionally touched the Emergency SOS feature.
How to Fix an iPhone Stuck in SOS Mode
1. Check Your Network Signal
Weak network conditions or total network absence can trigger your iPhone to display either “SOS” or “SOS only.” Try the following:
- Transition to an area with superior network signal.
- Using Control Center access the airplane icon when you need to enable and disable Airplane Mode.
- Begin by restarting your iPhone according to the steps in the following section.
2. Restart Your iPhone
A basic restart serves to resolve small systems issues that cause interruptions.
- To power down iPhone X and later, users need to press and hold both the side button and volume button simultaneously until the power slider shows up. Drag the switch to disable the device. After two seconds have passed, activate the phone again.
- To power off iPhone SE (2nd generation) and earlier, users should hold down their side button until the slider appears, which they must use to switch off and then on again.
3. Check for iOS Updates
Operation within SOS mode without any resolution could be triggered by an issue in your iPhone’s software. Updating iOS can help:
- Launch Settings > General > Software Update from your system.
- You need to click Download and Install after seeing that an update is available.
- Use the Restart function on your iPhone after applying the software upgrade.
4. Remove and Reinsert the SIM Card
A damaged or poorly inserted SIM card regularly results in network connection problems. Try this:
- You can use a SIM ejector tool together with a paperclip to take out the SIM card.
- Inspect the SIM card for damage and examine it for any signs of dirt.
- Reboot your iPhone after you place the SIM card into its proper slot.
- Insert another SIM card in your iPhone to check if the network connection problem remains or resolves.
5. Check Your Carrier Settings
The correct operation of network connectivity may require updates to carrier settings.
- You should navigate to Settings followed by General followed by About from your iPhone screen.
- A notification screen shows an update when available. Tap Update.
6. Reset Network Settings
Your iPhone connectivity issues might be solved by performing a network reset procedure.
- The process involves accessing Settings, then selecting General followed by Transfer or Reset iPhone to reach Reset Network Settings.
- The reset deletes stored Wi-Fi networks together with all Bluetooth connections and phone settings, which require reconnection.
7. Turn Off Emergency SOS Feature
You can disable SOS mode on your iPhone when it enters this state through a user error while using the Emergency SOS feature.
- Accessing the Settings screen then visiting Emergency SOS is necessary.
- You should disable the Call with Side Button function and Auto Call under Settings > Emergency SOS.
8. Contact Your Carrier
Contact your mobile carrier for help if your issue continues because they can check the network outages as well as account-related problems.
9. Restore Your iPhone Using iTunes/Finder
The next course of action should be a restoration process for your iPhone.
- Your data backup can be done by plugging your iPhone to a computer and implementing either iTunes for Windows users or Finder for Mac users.
- Follow these steps to place your iPhone under Recovery Mode.
- Users of iPhones with Face ID should first press the Volume Up button, then follow by pressing the Volume Down button, before pressing and holding the Side button. To access the recovery mode screen you need to push down the Side button until it displays.
- You need to press simultaneously the Side button with the Volume Down button to access recovery mode on iPhone 7/7 Plus.
- While running an iPhone 6s or earlier model, you need to press and hold both the Power button as well as the Home key simultaneously until the recovery mode display appears.
- Use iTunes or Finder to access the Restore option for resetting your iPhone.
10. Contact Apple Support
Staff should contact Apple support for hardware assistance when all troubleshooting steps fail to unlock the iPhone from SOS mode. Expert help can be obtained either through contacting Apple Support or by visiting Apple Stores across the region.
Final Thoughts
Any time your iPhone becomes stuck in SOS mode, it is possible to handle the situation through basic troubleshooting methods. The issue might be resolved by performing a phone restart followed by network setting verification or updating the iOS system of your phone. The problem requires either a network reset or a full restore as a solution. You will find the most reliable solution through contacting Apple Support.
The provided steps will allow you to restore your iPhone to proper functioning so you can use it quickly.