Apple has added a discreet way to call the police or ambulance into its next iPhone update, which is set to be released in the coming weeks.

Pressing the power button (the one that locks and unlocks the phone) five times in a row will dial the emergency services number, as well as alerting a designated emergency contact and giving them their current location. The “Emergency SOS” feature can be turned off in the iPhone’s settings.

While it could see some people dial emergency services by mistake, it will also be an inconspicuous way to phone in an emergency, or if the iPhone’s touchscreen is broken.

The feature, spotted in Apple forums, will be included in iOS 10.2, and emerged in beta versions of the operating system for developers. It is likely to be released publicly towards the start of next month.

When pressing the button on the side of the device five times, the iPhone will count down from three and then call the emergency service number in one of 14 countries, including the UK and US. The number in the UK is likely to be 112, the European standard for emergency services that renders the same result as dialling 999.

iPhone users can designate specific emergency contacts, who are sent an alert with location details when the feature is activated.

The feature is designed as a way for people to be able to discreetly alert emergency services as well as close contacts if they are in trouble.

The iPhone previously had a way to ring emergency services it via Siri with the command “charge my phone 100 percent”. The voice command was deactivated, possibly since the attention it received made it more obvious.