To assist Ukraine, Google rolls out “Air Raid Alerts” system for Android

Google's Doodle for Ukraine Independence Day 2018.

Enlarge / Google’s Doodle for Ukraine Independence Day 2018. (credit score: Google)

Smartphone-based air raid alerts are one of many many terrible info of life in Ukraine proper now. Whereas the Ukrainian authorities has an air raid warning system that presently runs by way of a third-party app, Google is taking it upon itself to construct an “Air Raid Alerts” system immediately into Android. The corporate outlined the choice on the Google Weblog:

Tragically, tens of millions of individuals in Ukraine now depend on air strike alerts to attempt to get to security. On the request, and with the assistance, of the federal government of Ukraine, we have began rolling out a fast Air Raid Alerts system for Android telephones in Ukraine. This work is supplemental to the nation’s present air raid alert programs, and based mostly on alerts already being delivered by the Ukrainian authorities.

Google is rolling out the characteristic by way of Google Play Companies, which implies it ought to work for practically each Android telephone. Whereas Android OS updates are infamously rolled out to solely a single-digit share of customers in a 12 months, Google Play Companies updates by way of the Play Retailer, so an replace will occur for everybody as quickly as their telephone checks for app updates.

Android’s VP of Engineering, Dave Burke, introduced the brand new characteristic on Twitter, saying the alerts use the identical low-latency alert system the Android workforce designed for Android’s earthquake detection. Whereas the Earthquake detection system can spawn an earthquake alert of its personal by crowdsourcing the accelerometer knowledge from tens of millions of Android telephones, Google is not detecting air raids and is simply constructing a shopper for the federal government’s alert system.

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