Activating a simple setting on iPhone could save your life

A paramedic has revealed an iPhone hack which takes just a couple of minutes to set up and could save your life.

Smartphones seem to get a bad rep these days, as we're constantly being told about the dangers of social media and becoming 'addicted' to our devices.

While both are fair points, it's easy to forget how useful our phones can be in the event of an emergency.

With Fall Detection and Crash Detection on Apple Watch, iPhones are able to automatically alert emergency services if a hard fall or crash is detected.

Heart Rate and ECG monitoring detect irregular rhythms, which was the case with myself. I found out from my heart rate reading that I have an irregular heartbeat, later confirmed by proper medical tests.

But to have a Medical ID on you could be life-saving.

What is a Medical ID?

Having a Medical ID could save your life (Getty Stock Images)

A Medical ID basically provides first responders with vital health information from the lock screen of your iPhone.

A paramedic who goes by @MummyNeeNaw on TikTok warned that having it 'could make all the difference to you and your loved ones'.

In a previous video, she explained: "God forbid, something should ever happen to you and we turn up, if you're in a place where no one knows who you are, we also don't know who you are.

"If anything should happen to you, we need to know if there is anything we need to be aware of while we're helping you and treating you.

"It's incredibly difficult when we don't know."

The mother-of-two explained: "I've been to a few [emergencies] over the years, and I went to one yesterday, where a gentleman was very poorly and we didn't know anything about him,' she said in the clip. He had no ID, nothing."

How to set up your Medical ID

According to Apple, there are six things you need to do to set up a Medical ID:

1) Open up the Health app and tap on the Summary tab.

2) Tap your profile picture in the top right-hand corner.

3) Tap Medical ID, which should be underneath your profile picture.

The live-saving iPhone hack 'takes less than two minutes' to set up (Apple)

4) "To make your Medical ID available from the Lock Screen on your iPhone, turn on Show When Locked. In an emergency, this gives information to people who want to help," Apple said.

"To share your Medical ID with emergency responders, turn on Share During Emergency Call."

"When you make a call or send a text to the emergency services on your iPhone or Apple Watch, your Medical ID will be shared with the emergency services automatically."

5) After that, tap Edit or Add next to the field you want to update.

"You can add details such as Medications, Allergies and any Conditions you have," the tech company added.

6) Tap Done.