There’s little question that Americans are more aware (and afraid of) police brutality than ever. The protests, anger, and frustration throughout the country have made even people whose heads were almost in the sand take notice. Amidst all of the news, commentary, and protests, an iPhone shortcut that turns your device into a sort of dash-cam has become very popular. Just by saying, “Hey Siri, I’m getting pulled over,” your iPhone will record your encounter with police.
Don’t Hope for Witnesses, Record Your Encounter With Police
In the past, police brutality was brought to the public eye through cell phone video recorded by witnesses. They’d either provide the footage to the news, post it on social media, or both. Since Rodney King’s beating in Los Angeles, this has been the case.
Now, you just have to install the shortcut, since Apple allows us to share shortcuts with each other if we enable the feature. Then you can activate it when you are worried about being mishandled by law enforcement. When you say, “Hey Siri, I’m getting pulled over,” your iPhone immediately starts to record your encounter with the police.
The shortcut pauses any music you’re playing and turns down the brightness of your screen. It turns on “Do Not Disturb” mode to block incoming calls. Then, it opens your front-facing camera and starts a video recording.
Let Others Know What’s Happening
While you record your interaction with police, your iPhone also sends a text message to a designated contact. This message lets them know you’re being pulled over, along with your current location.
After you stop the recording, the shortcut automatically sends a copy of the video to your contact. It also gives you the option to upload the video to iCloud or Dropbox. This is a good way to make sure the video is available even if the police seize your iPhone.
An Older Shortcut, but Updated to Work More Reliably
This shortcut isn’t exactly new, but it’s definitely getting more attention now than ever before. Redditor Robert Petersen created the shortcut in 2018, according to CNN,but was recently updated to squish bugs. It’s now called the “I’m being pulled over” shortcut.
The shortcut allowing you to record your interaction with the police got a fair bit of notice when it first came out in 2018. Recently, the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer is making the shortcut more popular than ever. The protests and calls for police reform have made many people much more aware of the growing problem of “bad cops.”
Get Ready to Record Your Interaction With Police
If you want to make sure you can easily record your interaction with police when you need to, start by installing the Shortcuts app on your iPhone. Then follow these steps.
- Run any other shortcut in the Shortcuts app. Just tap Gallery on the bottom right corner of Shortcuts to find some to choose from.
- Go to Settings, and scroll down to Shortcuts. Tap it and toggle the Allow Untrusted Shortcuts option to On.
- You can download the “I’m getting pulled over” shortcut by opening this link in Safari. The shortcut will open in the gallery. Scroll down and tap Add Untrusted Shortcut and configure it for whom you want to send your location and a copy of the recording to. Once you’ve finished, tap Done and the shortcut will be ready and waiting.
You should test the shortcut a couple of times to make sure it has all the proper permissions, then you’ll be good to go.