8 Reasons Why Upgrading to an iPhone is a Good Idea for Emergency Preparedness

Try as I might NOT to do so, about a month ago I finally succumbed to peer pressure and upgraded from my ancient slide-to-open cell phone to a fancy new iPhone 4. Yes, I was purposely avoiding doing so for years.

Honestly, I probably wouldn’t have even bothered now if we weren’t looking to change cell phone providers and for the fact that my wife’s previous iPhone was having “technical difficulties.”

The point is that I’ve got a darn smartphone and now the powers that be can track me wherever I go… oh, wait… they can do that already? Drat! Guess they can do it even easier now. 🙁

On the plus side, upgrading actually did turn out to be a good move from an emergency preparedness perspective, here’s several reasons why I believe so:

1. I can actually send texts without wanting to throw the phone out the window. Gone are the days of spending five minutes rotating through letters to say… anything. For emergency preparedness this means that we (or at least that I) can communicate faster if need be.
2. I used to keep charging cables (both AC and DC) in our bug out bags and vehicles for both of our types of phones. Now that my wife and I use the same phone I can cut down on the mess, save a bit of weight, money, etc. This was a particularly nice outcome.
3. Even though I have a wide variety of “how to” and other emergency-related documents on my iPad and printed on paper, that’s not something I keep with my at all times. My phone, however, is most likely with me at all times which means I can now access a huge amount of data at my fingertips should I ever find need to.
4. There are actually quite a few disaster preparedness apps that can prove useful, from first aid to survival apps and more; here’s a nice video on EDC apps for a smartphone (and this is part two). Who knows if I’ll ever actually use most of them but it’s nice to have.
5. The built-in camera is potentially useful. Who knows for what reason or why I would need to document a disaster scene but so long as the battery holds out I can take hundreds of pictures.
6. The iPhone makes it a ton easier to store personal information if I want to, from an assortment of contact numbers (lawyers, doctors, insurance, etc) to account numbers, information about my family, my dog, my vehicles… you get the idea.
7. If–and this is a BIG IF–the internet is functioning, it’s possible that I can use my smartphone to learn about the disaster, from assorted news resources to various apps, this information is much easier to come by via smartphone.
8. I can download offline maps. I still need to experiment and find an app that I truly like but it seems that I can get maps for city streets and even hiking trails and more.

I’m sure there are more potential reasons why a smartphone is useful for emergency preparedness. That said, it shouldn’t be solely relied upon. You really should have local maps in your car and bug out bags, emergency contact numbers in hard copy, among other stuff. A smartphone is really just another tool in your arsenal and one that I feel is a great addition if you allow it to be without it becoming an unhealthy reliance in so doing.