Your Android phone has a superpower you may not know: it can give you a preliminary warning of earthquakes in more than 100 countriesincluding the United States. These few additional seconds of preparation time can save lives.
In addition, the functionality go live On OS devices also wear, so if you have a smartwatch climb, alerts appear on your wrist, as long as your laptop is connected to the web, even if you left your phone behind.
These features are not difficult to configure and should be lit by default – and, hopefully, will never be necessary. However, it is worth knowing how they work, so you are not taken into account if an earthquake is expected in your region.
Find the alert setting
Officially, this is known as the Android Earthquake alerts system. As is often the case with Android, you can find it in a slightly different place in the settings depending on the brand and the model of your phone. On pixel and galaxy phones, it is Safety and emergency> Earthquake alerts.
The feature should have been activated when you configured your phone for the first time, but if it has been deactivated for any reason, you can reactivate it here. It’s just a simple rocking switch. You will also obtain information on the operation of the functionality and certain security advice, as well as a See a demo OPTION – Although it is careful when you use this, because the warning is quite strong.
As for the operating system use functionality, it should not need additional configuration. It should result from the parameter on the phone. Watch alerts will reflect those on your phone, so it’s not a device or the other for your warnings – if you have a connected wear wear watch, earthquake alerts will also appear on your phone.
How the alerts work
Google draws data from two sources for its early alert system: the network of thousands of seismic detectors that are part of the Shakelert System managed by the US Geological Survey and the accelerometer data being anonymously sampled on billions of Android devices worldwide.
The information that appears on your phone and watch screens will tell you three key details: at what distance the epicenter of the earthquake is, what amplitude the earthquake is estimated and the level of tremor to wait. If weak or light tremors are expected, you get a pop-up notification on your phone.
If moderate shocks in Lourdes are expected, the warning will go further. It will light the screen of your phone and play a strong sound, regardless of the volume or will not disturb the settings of your device. The alert will resume the entire screen of your phone, with advice on how to stay protected: place, cover and support.
For one or the other type of alert, press the notification for more details on the place where the earthquake is and the best ways to protect you. You will get advice such as avoiding damaged buildings, make sure you have shoes before moving and checking the gas supplies that arrive in your building.
Keep in mind that this Android earthquake system is not a predictor of earthquake, because earthquakes are notoriously difficult to predict. What he does is provide alerts on earthquakes very quickly after their start, which can give you a few precious seconds to prepare for the impact.
Once you are safe, you can make a monitoring request for “earthquakes” on Google Search to get more information on what happened. Recent earthquakes near your location will be listed at the top of the results. For more information on these features and how your data is used, see the civil servant Google support documents.
