Android’s emergency call shortcut is flooding dispatchers with false calls
Android’s emergency call shortcut is flooding dispatchers with false calls
Google says it's working on a fix, but as usual, manufacturers will need to update.
I accidentally activated this in the grocery store like 2 weeks ago and had no idea how I'd done it until just now seeing this thread. My phone started beeping loudly and counting down on the screen and it freaked me the hell out because I had no idea what was going on. People were looking at me like I was about to detonate a bomb or something! As soon as it finished and starred to dial 911 automatically I hung it up before a ring, but goddamn it was concerning to me and those around me. What the hell, Android?
I used to work 911, and butt dials have been a big problem for a long time. When you get a ton of them, it's easy to close the call and ignore it, but you have to take into consideration that sometimes it could be a real emergency and the caller is not able to safely speak. On the other hand, you realistically cannot try to investigate every single one and waste limited, valuable resources. It is a real problem.
As a supervisor on the EMS firld side, I have always had lots of respect for dispatchers' ability to tell what is a malicious false, an accidental false, and a person unable to talk due to threat or illness. Also, I will get called by dispatch and asked if I want EMS to standby while law enforcement investigates or have law enforcement on standby while we investigate in some cases.
Accidentally calls are not some new thing. Apple watches dial 911 all the time while people exercise.
This is too easy to hit on accident. If your phone freezes and you try to turn on the screen too many times in rapid succession - boom 911
You can disable the power button shortcut. Search for something like "emergency sos".
I don’t think all phone models will let you. Most should though.
Google told the BBC it's up to manufacturers to decide how and when the emergency SOS feature works, even though Google is the one that developed it.
Corporate bullshit 101
No surprise from a company that announce to their employee they are fired by disabling their pass.It is up to the device manufacturer. Google develops Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and the Google apps and services (Google Play Store for example). This feature (afaik) is in AOSP.
Google developed the version in AOSP, which is open source. Device manufacturers are then able to change the code as needed. If a device manufacturer uses base AOSP with (nearly) no changes, the fix Google made will be applied when the AOSP update goes through the manufacturers build pipeline and to the device (on Google Pixel phones for example). For manufacturers that have a lot of changes compared to AOSP (Xiaomi, Samsung, and many more), they might have to create their own fix that works on their own version of Android, which takes a lot longer.
One of the reasons people run "Custom ROMs" on their Android phone is to be responsible themselves for updates and fixes instead of the device manufacturer.
Yes, Google messed up and now abdicates all responsibility because of how fixes are pushed downstream to users.
I'd like to know who had the incredibly poor idea to enable this by default. You can't just do something like this without notifying the user!
Disabled it on my device. Samsung's mandatory software updates are already painful, and I have no idea how long this was silently enabled without my knowledge. Good thing I don't fidget with my phone...
A relative of mine works in the same room as 911 call-takers in western Canada. They're having a big problem with this.
@alyaza Is it really that hard to dial 🇪🇺 112, 🇺🇸 911, 🇦🇺 000, or whatever the number in your country is?
There may be lots of problems with emergencies all over the world, but dialing the actual number isn't one of them.
There may be lots of problems with emergencies all over the world, but dialing the actual number isn’t one of them.
well, there's a couple benefits i can see to a quick-dial: in an emergency situation time is of the essence and you want as little hassle as possible in reaching emergency services. maybe for some reason you can't dial well, or at all--maybe you're panicking and a shortcut button gives you a less entropic way of calling emergency services.
Or a situation where you’re in danger and taking your phone out of your pocket isn’t an option.
In an emergency, unlocking a phone, accessing the dialing app, then dialing the correct number on a touchscreen all add considerable friction.
What if you're wearing gloves? What if the screen is broken? What if it isn't your phone? What if your hands are wet? What if the fine motor control of your fingers doesn't work well because you're injured/cold/burned/weak? What if you can't see well because of an eye issue or smoke...
Being able to tap an actual hardware button a few times can prove invaluable during these kinds of emergency situations.
A dumbass cousin of mine shot himself while all alone. It took him about 10minutes to call 911 because the blood on his fingers made it hard to use a touch screen. Knowing about the shortcut would surely have helped.
Useful fact: You can dial 911 in Eirope as well. Android will forward your call to the local emergency service.
Got me thinking how awkward 911, 112 is to call on modern phones with one hand. 999 and 000 are much quicker to dial being only 1 number and at the bottom of the dial pad, 000 especially, being in the middle for left and right handers.
This happened to me recently. My phone screen randomly stopped working and I triggered the emergency shortcut trying to turn the screen on.
Dude, same thing happened to me
It's happened to me 3 or 4 times now with my phone in my pocket. Samsung has "Emergency Call" button on the lock screen that allows you to pocket dial 911 without much interaction with the phone.
The pattern should be _ _ _ ••• _ _ _ (with a prompt if you mash the power button in the current shortcut format)
Isn't that OSO instead of SOS?
Yeah it's inverted haha
Mine just went off by accident for the first time 10 minutes ago, I only stopped it in time.
Phones often don't abort 911 calls at all. It's not good to assume that cancelling the call "mid-dialing" is sufficient. Stay on the line, explain what happened briefly and let them confirm that it was a mis-dial. If you don't they might get treat it as a no-answer dial and will dispatch resources to your GPS location (Thanks e-911) anyway.
I got to it within the 5 seconds before initialising the call.
I had to turn those features off for my phone, after it accidentally ass-dialed 911 multiple times.
The day this happened to me I went out and bought an iPhone
I very nearly called emergency services 3 times on the same day. And on my phone the power button is not easy to press.
I own an Android, and I was not aware of this feature. I checked my settings, and it appears that the countdown was turned off by default. Does that mean the SOS feature was disabled, or that it would activate instantly with no countdown? Because the latter would definitely increase the risk of false alarms.