Google: changes Android Emergency SOS after reports of accidental calls
Emergency calls are essential and can help significantly in cases of emergency. Modern technologies, such as smartphones and wearables, have offered new ways to access this help.
With regard to the collision detection and fall detection function, these features are designed to automatically detect incidents and notify emergency services to take action. However, as with any technology, there is always the possibility of unwanted alerts occurring.
Devices that offer these functions are programmed to react to specific patterns and conditions to detect a potential emergency. However, there are cases where detection may be incorrect, such as accidental notification of a fall or collision without an actual emergency situation.
If you receive unwanted notifications or are in doubt about the operation of these features, it is important to verify your device settings and ensure that they are set correctly.
The Emergency SOS feature introduced on Android 12 mobile phones and other manufacturer devices later is intended to facilitate communication with emergency services during a critical situation. However, unwanted alerts may occur or unintended calls may be made to emergency services.
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This can cause problems as it burdens contact centres with unnecessary calls and delays the help needed for those in real emergencies. Google understands this problem and is working to address it.
In particular, Google is developing technology that will prevent the Emergency SOS function from being activated unintentionally. The aim is to reduce false alerts and ensure that emergency calls are only made when there is a real need for help.
The phenomenon of increased calls, reaching a record 999, in the UK, due to the increasing availability of Emergency SOS on Android phones, has been reported by the National Police Chiefs Council. Police authorities say these 'silent calls' are posing a problem as they are consuming valuable resources and time, with an average of up to 20 minutes to handle each call.
This problem can be caused by a variety of reasons, such as unintentional activation of Emergency SOS by users, problems with the accuracy and reliability of the sensors that detect the emergencies, or even technical problems in the software of the devices.
The problem with unnecessary calls to the emergency number remains even after the update to Android 13. Software updates often include improvements and fixes to address such issues, but sometimes there can be challenges in deploying and implementing these changes that affect emergency functionality.
Google and device manufacturers are aware of the need for reliable emergency systems and continue to work on improving these features. If you are experiencing specific issues with Emergency SOS on your device, I recommend contacting manufacturer support or reporting to the Android development team to let them know about the issue you are experiencing. This way, they can follow up and resolve the issue and improve the functionality of Emergency SOS in the future.
