Apple's Emergency SOS function foils tried sexual assault

The unnamed lady described her ordeal to CBS affiliate WTKR on Monday.

Throughout the early hours of Sunday a lone stranger approached asking for assist in discovering his personal iPhone, in accordance with the report. The girl, not suspecting hazard, agreed to play good Samaritan and was finally led to the boardwalk.

“I wasn’t suspecting he was dangerous. He was a really regular, good trying man,” she mentioned. “I used to be like, ‘The place are your folks? Why are you alone?’ He was like, I am within the army. I am not from right here,’ and my brother is within the army — I felt dangerous for him.”

Luring the sufferer to a secluded space, the unidentified man mentioned he believed the cellphone was misplaced in sand. The state of affairs turned bitter when the girl tried to find the supposedly lacking cellphone with Apple’s “Discover My” app, an effort that bore no fruit. She turned suspicious when the person was unable to navigate Apple’s iOS person interface, suggesting he didn’t, in reality, personal an iPhone and had manufactured the misplaced cellphone situation.

“I get my cellphone again and I flip round and I attempt to run away and he simply comes up from behind me, tackles me, grabs my face, is masking my mouth,” the girl mentioned. “I am making an attempt to scream for assist, [he] tackles me to the bottom — is like shoving my face to the bottom — and now, as a result of I have been screaming, he is holding my mouth even tighter making an attempt to muffle any noise I am making.”

Fortunately, Emergency SOS was enabled on the girl’s iPhone, permitting her to routinely dial 911 with out unlocking the system. On this case, an extended press of each the ability button and quantity down button triggered the function. Emergency SOS may also be invoked by urgent on the ability button 5 instances in fast succession.

Police have been directed to her location by a dispatcher who heard her pleas for assist.

“They have been initially going to look within the motels and dispatch up to date them that I used to be speaking in regards to the water — I am begging him to not drown, I do not need to drown — so that they knew to come back look within the sand,” she mentioned.

The attacker fled on foot when police arrived on scene, however was rapidly tracked down and apprehended.

“I am so grateful for these cops. I do know they’ve a thankless job, and I simply cannot thank them sufficient,” the girl mentioned.

Apple’s Emergency SOS function debuted on watchOS in 2016 and made its solution to iPhone in 2017. With iOS 11, Apple added the flexibility to alert designated emergency contacts with am automated textual content message that includes present location info.