Man shares clever voicemail hack that ‘could save your life’ if you ever got lost

There’s nothing more fear-inducing than being stranded with less than 10 per cent battery left on your phone. Well now, a man has taken to Twitter with a genius hack that could potentially save a life.

Pete Eriksen (@terrapinpete) took to the platform to showcase a simple trick to tell loved ones your exact location. Deemed by one user as “the smartest thing I’ve seen on Twitter in a while”, Pete revealed it’s all down to updating your voicemail.

“If you ever get lost while hiking, or get stranded on the road - change the voicemail on your phone giving your approximate location, date, time, and details of your situation and your plans,” he explained.

“If your phone dies, people trying to reach you will have a place to start looking.”

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His clever hack racked up thousands of retweets and an influx of helpful advice.

One fellow Twitter user highlighted that you should always call 911 in an emergency. “Whether your phone shows bars or not, in an emergency dial 911. Your 911 call will use ANY cell service available, NOT just the one you subscribe to”, he said.

Another mentioned that SMS messages still often go through – even when you have zero bars. “They use the signal your phone uses to ping for towers,” they tweeted. “So even if you can’t complete a call, a text might get through. Send a photo of where you are in a text message.”

Others suggested sticking to the old fashioned way – take a map.

“’If’ you have service. Cuz the main reason people get real lost is no service and then dying phones. Always bring a map guys. Paper. Ya know, 1980s style”, one said, while another added to always leave an itinerary with someone before going on a hike.