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What are ICE Apps?
Personal Safety

What are ICE Apps?

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When it comes to protecting yourself and the ones you love, you can never be too safe! Advancements in technology over the years have made it easier to make your safety more of a priority, including the development of ICE apps. Here’s a deep dive into what ICE is and the different app options available:

What Do ICE Apps Do?

Before we get into the details of different ICE apps, it’s important to know what it means! ICE stands for “in case of emergency”. In a medical emergency, EMTs have limited time to assess the situation and react. For you, communicating things like blood type, medical conditions, health history and emergency contacts isn’t always possible. That’s why medical alert necklaces and bracelets exist to immediately convey all necessary medical information to doctors and paramedics.

But, wearing a clunky bracelet or steel dog tag isn’t always ideal in professional or formal situations. Additionally, people don’t always remember to put on their alert wearable. ICE apps were designed to combat this problem by integrating the concept of a medical alert necklace with something you never leave home without – your cell phone.

Here are a few different ICE app options that are currently available:

The ICE App

The ICE App serves as your digital dog tag. By creating a permanent push notification that appears on your phone’s lock screen, paramedics and doctors can easily identify any important information about you during a medical emergency. This app is free to download and is available on Google Play Store or the iOS App Store.

ICE Medical Standard

With the ICE Medical ID Standard App, you can digitize your medical card. This app lets you put your emergency contact information on your smartphone’s lock screen. That way, if you are in an accident, first responders can find your medical info as soon as they turn on your smartphone. You can also categorize yourself into one of three categories, high, medium and low risk based on allergies and medical conditions.

ICE Contact

ICE Contact is a personal safety app that triggers an instant or delayed emergency message to be sent to your emergency contacts. With the delayed message feature, you can alert your loved ones of potential danger even if your phone dies, loses service or gets stolen.

ICE Emergency Contacts for iPhone & Android

In addition to stand alone ICE apps, both Apple iPhone and Android devices have ICE capabilities built into their operating system. Here’s a look at what they are and how to get started:

iPhone ICE Functionality

Medical ID is a function of Apple’s preinstalled Health App. With Medical ID, iPhone users can help first responders gain access to your critical medical information from the Lock screen, without needing your passcode. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Health App on your iOS device
  2. Navigate to the Summary tab and select the profile icon in the top right corner
  3. Select Medical ID and tap Edit in the top right corner
  4. Turn on the Show When Locked function
  5. Enter health information such as allergies, medical conditions and ICE contacts
  6. Tap Done

Android ICE Functionality

Similar to the ICE Contact app mentioned before, Android’s SOS function allows you to quickly send an alert to your ICE contacts in an emergency without needing to unlock your mobile device. By simply pressing the lock button three times in succession, your device will immediately send out the alert. Here’s how you can set it up:

  1. Navigate to Settings menu
  2. Go to Advanced Features and select Send SOS Messages
  3. Add the recipients from your contact list
  4. When you activate this feature, your phone will take front and back facing photos and send an audio recording to your emergency contact alerting them to the situation.

Alert Emergency Contacts and First Responders with Rescu

While ICE apps are great for contacting your loved ones in an emergency, most ICE apps leave a huge gap in ensuring your personal safety. After all, in an emergency situation you need quick help. Fortunately, Rescu fills that gap.

Rescu is the fastest emergency dispatch service available. With Rescu, you can have emergency medical (or police and fire with Rescu Prime) dispatch at your door in as little as two taps on your mobile device. Additionally, Rescu will notify your emergency contacts when dispatch is requested, alerting them to a potential emergency.

By using Rescu alongside your ICE app, you can ensure that your personal safety is well-rounded and complete.

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