When your iPhone’s battery is low and you’re nowhere near a charger, you may find yourself desperately calling out for help from Siri. But be careful. Asking Siri to charge your phone for you will actually cause it to call the police, and you’ll have just five seconds to stop it.
Using the command “Siri charge my phone 100 percent” on an iPhone will trigger the virtual assistant to begin calling the police, and nobody really knows why. But you only have five seconds to cancel it, and if you don’t, you will potentially end up pranking the emergency services accidentally.
Of course, this is an offense, and it could result in a hefty fine. But is this a bug, or a hidden feature?
“We’re not sure exactly why this happens,” reports The Verge, “it could just be a bug, of course — but one consequence is that it could be used in some sort of home invasion scenario, allowing someone to secretly call the police without attracting attention.”
If this was a feature, Apple would have likely made it known to users — especially if it has the ability to call the emergency services and could well result in false calls. It’s likely to be a bug, then, so it probably won’t be too long before Apple fixes it.
If you have to check it out for yourself, be sure to cancel the process before your iPhone makes the call.