Text-to-911 is now available in all counties within Pennsylvania. 

Text-to-911 may be most helpful in these emergency situations:

• By individuals who have speech or hearing impairments, or who are having a medical emergency that renders them incapable of speech.
• Instances when making noise may endanger the caller, such as a home invasion/robbery, or instances of domestic violence or an abduction.

Text-to-911 is an important tool to enhance communications with the public in an emergency, but it has many limitations. It's important to keep these things in mind:

• A text or data plan is required to place a text to 911.
• Text-to-911 conversations cannot include more than one person. Do not send your emergency text to anyone other than 911.
• Do not use abbreviations or emojis.
• Voice calls are real-time communication and Text-to-911 is not. As with all text messages, text messages to 911 may take longer to receive, may be delivered out of order, or may not be delievered at all.
• 911 call takers will not be able to hear any background noise that could help with assisting during the emergency.
• Location information will be limited to the cell tower that your cell phone is communicating through. A 911 telecommunicator won't automatically know where you are.
• Intentionally misusing Text-to-911 is subject to the same penalties as misusing call based 911.