Child Safety Emergency+: the free app that tells 000 where you are
Emergency+ is the free national app built by Australia's emergency services. It calls Triple Zero (000) in one tap and shows your exact location on screen, so you can read it to the call-taker. Set it up in two minutes.
When your child is hurt, the first thing the 000 call-taker needs is where to send help. In a panic, at a park, a beach car park, a friend's new house or on a road trip, that is the question most of us can't answer.
Emergency+ answers it for you. It is a free app built by Australia's emergency services and their government and industry partners. One tap calls Triple Zero (000), and the screen shows your location from your phone's GPS, ready to read out.
What it is
A national app, the same everywhere in Australia, from the people who answer the call. It does three things:
- Calls 000 with one big button.
- Shows where you are: your location from the phone's GPS, plus a what3words address.
- Points you to the right number when it isn't an emergency: the SES (132 500) for flood and storm help, and the Police Assistance Line (131 444) for non-urgent police matters.
What's a what3words address?
what3words has split the world into 3 metre squares and given each square its own three words. Read those three words to the call-taker and they know which square you are standing in. The App Store listing says it works offline, which helps when you have no data.
It still needs a phone signal to make the call. The federal Triple Zero page is plain about it: if no mobile network has coverage where you are, your mobile can't reach 000.
Who it's for
Every parent, grandparent, babysitter and older child with a smartphone. It earns its place most:
- away from home: parks, beaches, bush tracks, holiday houses, long drives
- in a house you don't know the address of
- for anyone who freezes under stress (most of us)
What it costs
Nothing. The app is free on iPhone and Android, and calls to 000 are free.
Set it up in two minutes
- Open the App Store or Google Play and search Emergency Plus. The developer is the National Triple Zero Awareness Work Group.
- Install it and open it once.
- Allow location access when it asks. Without it the app can't show where you are.
- Move the icon to your home screen, beside the phone.
- Open it now, while nothing is wrong, and find your location and three words on screen so you know where to look.
- Put it on your partner's phone, and on the phones of anyone who minds your children.
When you call 000
Before you call, the official advice asks three questions. Is someone seriously injured or in need of urgent help? Is a life or property in danger? Have you just seen a serious accident or crime? If yes, call 000.
On the call:
- Say which service you need: police, fire or ambulance.
- Stay calm. Speak slowly and clearly.
- Tell them exactly where to come. This is where you read off Emergency+.
- Stay on the line. Their own words: stay focused, stay relevant, stay on the line.
From a mobile you can also dial 112, which reaches the same 000 service. If you are deaf or have a hearing or speech difficulty, call 106 with a TTY through the National Relay Service.
Pair it with first aid
The app gets help moving. What you do in the minutes before help arrives matters as much. Royal Life Saving WA's free one-hour online course covers CPR for babies and children and first aid for choking, burns and drowning. Our write-up: Free online first aid learning.
Sources
- Emergency+ official site (free, built by Australia's emergency services, GPS location)
- App Store: Emergency Plus (free, what3words, SES and Police Assistance Line, works offline)
- Google Play: Emergency Plus
- Australian Government: Triple Zero (when to call, 112, 106, SES 132 500, Police Assistance Line 131 444, no-coverage warning)