New Delhi: There’s good news for Android users, who account for nearly 95% market share in India.
Google, which has developed the mobile operating system and owns it, has activated the Android emergency location services (ELS) in this country. It marks an important move for the company towards helping users in distress.
ELS service, which has been around in other parts of the globe, can initially be accessed by people living in Uttar Pradesh.
ELS offers Android’s millions of users immediate support in emergencies.
Unlike Apple’s satellite-based emergency support, users of Android operating system can make use of the emergency number and alert people when they meet with an accident or are injured.
The tool, developed by Google in the mobile platform, provides the location of the affected person with the right support team when they call the 112 emergency support number.
ELS uses the signal from mobile phone using GPS, WiFi and even mobile network running on the device to get the exact location of the person.
Google, which did pilot tests in the last few months to check its impact, has also used AI which has been trained to work across different scenarios like a moving vehicle, emergency in a remote city or a busy one.
ELS won’t need a separate app to work on Android phones running version 6.0 or later. The location sharing is done privately, and only available to the emergency support team and not collected by the company.
The free service is triggered only when one makes an emergency call or sends a message.
