What Spain's 112 knows about where you are when you call (AML)

“I don't know where I am” is one of the phrases 112 hears most. For a few years now, in most cases they do know: the phone itself tells them. It's called AML (Advanced Mobile Location), and it's worth understanding what it does, because it changes what you should do yourself in an emergency. Data as of October 15, 2026.

What AML is and how accurate it is

When you dial 112 from a phone, the phone works out its position in the first seconds of the call (GPS, Wi-Fi, cell towers, sensors) and sends it to the emergency center by SMS and, if it can, also over the internet (HTTPS). All automatic, with no app needed. Typical accuracy is 15 to 20 meters. Before this, with only the cell tower, the margin was 2 to 5 kilometers in cities and 40 to 50 in the mountains, according to Spain's Protección Civil.

And a detail almost nobody knows: it works even if you have location services turned off. Android turns them on for that call (Google documents it: “if Wi-Fi is off, the emergency service can turn it on”), and Apple states that the iPhone's location “can be used when making an emergency call, whether or not you turn on Location Services.”

Where it works in Spain

The Valencian Community was the first to launch it in April 2021, Catalonia and the Canary Islands followed in June, and by the end of that year 12 regions had AML in production (Protección Civil coordinated with Google to activate it on Android; iPhones came later). By 2026, the 112 services in all the autonomous communities have it. Since March 2022, moreover, every phone sold in the European Union must support it.

When it does NOT know where you are

• No SIM. The call to 112 still goes through (any network can carry it), but the phone can't send the SMS with the position, so 112 only knows the cell tower, and the margin goes back to kilometers. With Wi-Fi, the internet transmission can still get through.
• No signal from any network. Then there's no call at all. In that situation, recent iPhones have had satellite SOS in Spain since September 2023 (by text); on Android it depends on the model and the country.
• Dead battery. Obvious, but it's the most common cause: a family location app alerts your people before the phone dies; 112 can't.

What you should do yourself during the call

Say where you are if you know: AML is a backup, it doesn't replace your description (“kilometer 23 of the M-607, toward Colmenar”). If you don't know, say that too: the operator will see your point on their map. Don't hang up until they tell you to, because the position keeps updating during the call.

What an app adds (and what it doesn't)

My112 is the free app that several 112 services use (Madrid, Castilla y León, Catalonia, Cantabria, Navarre, La Rioja, Castilla-La Mancha, Melilla): it calls 112 sending your position, lets you send photos, lets the center check your positions from the previous ten days if you disappear, and sends an SMS to your contacts after the call. AlertCops, from the National Police and Civil Guard, does something similar for public safety.

And the SOS feature of a circle-based app does something different: it alerts your people with your location, not the emergency services. They're complementary: 112 sends the ambulance; your circle knows something has happened and where. That's why in Mi Estela the SOS doesn't try to call anyone for you, and we explain it in why SOS doesn't replace 112.

Sources

• COPE / Protección Civil: “The 112 services incorporate the AML system” (Nov 18, 2021)
• Xataka: “The 112 can know where you are within 15 meters…” (Aug 8, 2026)
• Bandaancha.eu: AML sends your location when you call 112
• Xataka Móvil: 112 recommends installing My112 (Aug 24, 2026)
• Google: device location settings (Emergency Location Service)
• Apple: privacy and location in iOS (use during emergency calls)