Apple’s Emergency SOS Live Video is now available across Brazil as of August 2026, enabled through a partnership with public safety AI company RapidSOS. The feature allows emergency communications centers, specifically 190 dispatchers using RapidSOS UNITE, to securely request and receive live video feeds from iPhone users during active crises.
Bringing Real-Time Intelligence to Brazil’s 190 Dispatchers
Public safety infrastructure in Brazil just gained a major architectural upgrade. Through RapidSOS UNITE, emergency communications centers across the country can now request live video streams directly from callers using iPhones. This deployment mirrors the rollout that first hit the United States in September 2024 alongside iOS 18.
When a caller dials 190 and the telecommunicator determines visual data would aid the response, the dispatcher triggers a request. The user instantly sees a prompt on their iPhone display. A single tap initiates the stream.
According to RapidSOS, the platform processes mission-critical intelligence by fusing data from over 723 million connected devices and more than 250 global technology companies. By bringing this pipeline to Brazil, local emergency services move past traditional voice-only limitations.
Under the Hood of the RapidSOS Integration:
- Encryption: Video streams are encrypted by default, ensuring data security during transmission.
- Control Architecture: Telecommunicators initiate every request. Emergency communications centers retain full governance, deciding whether to activate the feature and controlling access by user role.
- Cost Structure: The live video capability is integrated directly into RapidSOS UNITE at no additional cost for Brazilian emergency communications centers using UNITE core modules.
How Live Video Shifts Emergency Response Dynamics
“When a caller says, ‘black male, blue hoodie,’ that’s half the school. But within minutes, she sends live pictures through RapidSOS — now I’ve got shoe brands, backpack logos, specific identifiers. That’s not just better data — that’s real-time intelligence,” noted Patrick Lea, a 911 telecommunicator in Spartanburg, illustrating the practical impact of shifting from audio-only to visual data streams.
For Brazil’s 190 dispatchers, this capability bridges the gap between initial distress calls and boots-on-the-ground arrivals. Visual data provides critical context regarding suspects, medical emergencies, accident severity, and environmental hazards before units arrive on the scene.
Scaling Public Safety Infrastructure Globally
The expansion into Brazil marks another milestone for RapidSOS, which has supported over one billion emergencies across 16 countries. The company delivers data intelligence to more than 23,500 federal, state, and local agencies, serving approximately one million first responders worldwide.
“Apple Emergency SOS Live Video represents a fundamental shift in how emergency services can protect the communities they serve. RapidSOS was proud to be the first platform to enable this capability in the United States, and we are committed to bringing that same life-saving technology to emergency services around the world,” stated Michael Martin, founder and CEO at RapidSOS.
Martin also highlighted the broader collaborative effort behind the software deployment. “Apple’s investment in public safety — and their trust in RapidSOS as the platform to deliver it — is a testament to what’s possible when technology is built in true partnership with the heroes who rely on it most.”
With the integration now active in Brazil via RapidSOS UNITE, iPhone users facing emergencies have a direct, secure line to transmit live visual feeds to dispatchers, fundamentally altering how emergency communications centers triage and manage critical incidents.
