New Yorkers in need of emergency help will be able to text 911 by early 2018 — nine years after the service was first offered in the nation, the city announced Tuesday.

The long-overdue option is part of the city’s broader NextGeneration 911 project, which will also let callers send photos and videos and interact through social media.

The service, first tried in Black Hawk County, Iowa in 2009, was offered in 2014 to local governments able to provide it.