Texting 911 in an emergency is offered in most places, but it's better to call if you can. Texting should be used when calling is dangerous or impossible. People who are hard of hearing, deaf, or speech-impaired should still use TTY for calling if possible. Keep these tips in mind for Text-to-911:

• Always include the type of emergency and your exact location in your text.
• It is not available everywhere yet; to check if it's supported in your area, see the FCC's Text-to-911 site and scroll to Status of Text-to-911 Deployments.
  • If it's not supported in your area, you'll get a bounce-back SMS message saying so.
• You may need to provide more details through text.