The advantage backfires. Android update wreaking havoc on emergency calls

Police and ambulances in many countries are complaining about a new Android feature that is causing high numbers of unintentional emergency calls. “Pocket calls” now account for nearly a third of all calls.

There is a feature in Google’s Android operating system that frustrates police and emergency services in many countries as they receive an increasing volume of accidental emergency calls. The Association of Chiefs of Police of Great Britain talks about new record number of emergency calls, as ‘BBC’ mentioned.

I associated this with a new Android feature where pressing the on/off button five times automatically triggers an emergency call. Apparently, this pressure often happens accidentally, for example when a smartphone slips into a trouser pocket.

The authorities are not only frustrated in the UK. At the Berlin fire station, every third emergency call was a “pocket call” last night. Here too, this is presumably related to the Android functionality.

Disable the feature for now

This feature was already introduced in Android 12, which was released at the end of 2021. However, since Android updates usually take a long time before smartphone manufacturers make them available for their models, the problem is just starting to become more frequent.

Accordingly, it can take a long time for the problem to be resolved. At the request of «RBB» Indicates Then Google also addresses the smartphone manufacturers who will have to provide the appropriate updates. Meanwhile, the “Emergency SOS” feature can also be deactivated. This is usually done in the settings under Security & Emergencies.