Your phone says "SOS" or "SOS only" because it's not connected to your normal cellular network but can still make emergency calls by using other carrier networks or satellite connections for help, often due to being in an area with no signal, a carrier outage, a SIM card issue, or a software glitch. To fix it, try restarting your phone, toggling Airplane Mode, reinserting your SIM card, checking for carrier updates, or resetting network settings, but if it persists, contact your service provider.
How to Get Phone Out of SOS Mode (Android)?
If you see SOS or “SOS only” in the status bar, your device isn't connected to your mobile network, but you can still make emergency calls through other service provider networks.
Network Issues and iPhone's SOS Mode
If your iPhone can't connect to your carrier's network but detects a signal from another carrier, it may display the “SOS” label. This means that while you can still make emergency calls, other functions like regular calls and text messaging won't work.
iPhone No Service Issue: Causes and Fixes iPhone no service often occurs due to SIM errors or network settings glitches. If your iPhone shows 'No Service,' first toggle Airplane Mode on and off. Restart the device and check for iOS updates. Remove and reinsert the SIM card to ensure proper contact.
Suddenly losing cell service in places where you used to have a reliable connection can be the result of a network outage or new construction blocking your cell tower. Congestion and a connection stuck to a distant cell tower can also cause random service issues.
If your iPhone cellular data stops working, you may need to restart your phone, reset network settings, and check your mobile data is turned on correctly.
iPhone 8 or Newer
If you continue to press the Power and Volume buttons, instead of dragging the slider, a countdown begins and an alert sounds. If the buttons are still being pressed after countdown ends, your iPhone automatically calls emergency service.
Use Control Center to turn Do Not Disturb on or off
If you see SOS or "SOS only" in the status bar, your device isn't connected to your cellular network, but you can still make emergency calls through other carrier networks. This feature is available in Australia, Canada, and the United States.
Three-finger gestures on iPhone primarily activate accessibility features like VoiceOver (for screen reading and navigation) and Zoom (magnification), allowing scrolling, zooming, and text manipulation (copy/paste/undo) with specific taps and drags, though some text actions work without VoiceOver enabled for quick editing. Common gestures include three-finger double-tap to toggle VoiceOver speech, triple-tap for the screen curtain, and pinching/spreading with three fingers for copy/paste actions, notes this YouTube video.
Check for SIM card failure
This buildup can be especially harmful if it gets trapped in your SIM card tray. When this happens, your iPhone won't be able to properly receive signals, causing it to lose service. Luckily, there's a way to clean your physical SIM card and check for signs of physical damage.
If you see SOS or "SOS only" in the status bar, this feature allows you to still make emergency calls when not connected to a cellular network. If you are seeing SOS or "SOS only" without any noticable cause such as: This is not a new activation.
Here are a few possible reasons your iPhone might get stuck on SOS. You accidentally brought up the power off/Emergency SOS screen by pressing and holding either the Volume button and the Side button at the same time for two seconds. Your iPhone has a software glitch. Your network settings are incorrect.
Even without touching that slider, if you continue to hold the side button and volume button, after a 5-second countdown, the iPhone automatically calls emergency services, which may not be what you want.
Check your data allowance: Verify you still have data left in your plan. If not, you'll need to wait for renewal, buy a data add-on, or switch to a bigger plan. Restart your phone: Sometimes a simple restart solves connection issues. Turn it off, wait a few seconds, and turn it back on.
Also, check Settings > General > iPhone Storage for any strange or unexpected data usage by apps. Monitor data consumption: Navigate to Settings > Cellular. Review the data usage for each app. A virus on your phone can consume large amounts of data by running in the background and communicating with a hacker's server.
If your iPhone stuck in SOS mode, resetting the network settings might help, especially if the SOS issue is related to connectivity: Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network Settings.
Carrier issues: You may see the “SOS Only” message if your carrier has issues with network coverage or the server is down. 3. SIM card issues: Your iPhone may display the “SOS Only” message if your SIM card is not correctly inserted or has been damaged. 4.