Disabling Emergency SOS on Samsung OneUI after June 2023 update
Since the June 2023 software update, the OneUI firmware on Samsung Galaxy phones switched the Emergency SOS option by default and would not let you disable it in the Settings.
The option is triggered by repeatedly pressing the power key, and that is, arguably, so easy to do accidentally. A similar change in the software had already led to undesired calls to the emergency services before.
In the Samsung software, some countries, like India, legally had been requiring the option to be always enabled even before the update. The update, however, spread that to other regions as well. So, even changing the region to get rid of the emergency SOS option would no longer work.
If you want to disable the option anyway, there is still a way to do that, but that will require connecting the phone via ADB (from PC via USB, WiFi, or even connecting from the phone itself). The process is similar to disabling other Samsung built-in apps.
If you wish to proceed, do so at your own responsibility, as you will not be able to use the Emergency SOS power key shortcut once it’s disabled, and there may be other potential software issues caused by the component being disabled, although I have not yet found any.
Once connected, execute the following command:
adb shell pm disable-user com.samsung.android.emergencyIf it succeeds, it will say
Package com.samsung.android.emergency new state: disabled-user
And after that, the Settings submenu will disappear:
The device will no longer react to the repeated power key pressing either. You will still be able to call the emergency services via the power menu, the dialer, the lock screen or by any other means.
If you want to bring the feature back, you simply need to run the ADB command to reverse the effect:
adb shell pm enable com.samsung.android.emergency