By Stanley Ssempijja
1. Check in
Phrases such as; Text me when you reach home” “call me when you reach the airport” “let me know when you reach the hospital” have been synonymous with our existence but now, Apple is here to make things more efficient and effective. All you have to do now is ask the person to share a checkin and you will be instantly notified when the person gets to that destination; and in cases where the person fails to make it, you will also be notified hence making keeping up with each other a lot easier and efficient.
So if you always forget to text your loved one that you’ve arrived home, or you feel safer when someone can track your journey to a destination, Apple’s Check In makes it super easy and is only available with iOS 17.
Sorry to my friends but this will be the first ritual we perform on a night out. I gotta be sure y’all went home or went to play away games.
2. Find my
This hits two birds with one stone, you can use it to find your Apple devices or share location with loved ones at any particular point, now with this not only is the location shared but also the directions. This might work for some couples but for those in typical kampala relationships, save yourself the heartache and drama.
3.lock down mode
It has been a few weeks of activism and recently I heard some activists on X (Twitter) complaining that their phones were being tapped or tracked by security agencies. Now my wish is you never need to use this feature but if you have to, it will help you become as digitally incognito as you can.
Available for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, Lockdown Mode was introduced with the release of iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS Ventura. This optional feature effectively disables or restricts certain features and settings on your device. The goal is to prevent malware, spyware, and other threats from exploiting or compromising your personal information.
Of Course some features will be disabled as a result but in case you must use this feature I guess that trade off would be worth it.
4. Safety Check
What does Safety Check do? You can use Safety Check to check who you’re sharing information with, restrict Messages and FaceTime to your iPhone, reset system privacy permissions for apps, change your passcode, change your Apple ID password, and more.
Just to be sure which apps have access to your info, I recommend you run a safety check every now and then, you might have granted an app access to your location at a particular time but you would like to revoke this access – safety check is here for you.
5. Emergency SOS
This feature gives you a chance to call police while your phone is still in the pockets incase you are in danger and don’t want anyone to notice that you are calling for support, this can call police, medical services and emergency contacts.
When you make a call with SOS, your iPhone automatically calls the local emergency number and shares your location information with emergency services.
You can also add emergency contacts. After an emergency call ends, your iPhone alerts your emergency contacts with a text message, unless you choose to cancel. Your iPhone sends your current location, and for a period of time after you enter SOS mode, your emergency contacts receive updates when your location changes.
6. Medical ID
A Medical ID provides information about you that may be important in an emergency, like allergies, medical conditions, and your emergency contacts. Your iPhone and Apple Watch can display this information so that it’s available for someone attending to you in an emergency and your emergency contacts can be notified.
Edit this feature in the medical app to ensure its accurate because it’s the first info people get access to in case you are in a situation where you cant help yourself.
7. Crash Detection
This feature is the most useful one in my opinion, the phone having the ability to call emergency services when it senses that you have been involved in an accident or sudden fall.
This came to my rescue once when I was involved in an accident, the boda guys couldn’t believe I managed to call police during the accident all thanks to my iPhone that automatically triggered the call during the accident.
How it works: When your iPhone detects a severe car crash, it will display an alert and will automatically initiate an emergency phone call after 20 seconds unless you cancel. If you are unresponsive, your iPhone will play an audio message for emergency services, which informs them that you’ve been in a severe crash and gives them your latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates with an approximate search radius.
With that said, remain vigilant and remember your safety/security starts with you. However, with some of Apple’s features, you could be saved from an impossible situation. Naye ela, Webelelemu!!
