Google is developing, with the agreement and support of the Ukrainian government, a bomb alert feature for all Android smartphone users.
If we often curry technological solutionism, we must admit that it sometimes has salutary applications. In Ukraine, Android smartphone users will receive air raid alerts before expected attacks occur near them. Google announced this new feature on Thursday, March 10, in an updated blog post. The American firm said it was working with the Ukrainian government to deploy this alert system.
“Tragically, millions of people in Ukraine now rely on airstrike alerts to try to get to safetysays Google on a page dedicated to the crisis in Ukraine. At the request and with the help of the Ukrainian government, we have started rolling out a rapid air raid alert system for Android phones in Ukraine. This work is in addition to the country’s existing air raid warning systems and is based on alerts already issued by the Ukrainian government“.
Google has already highlighted the Ukrainian alarm app on the Google Play Store, which sends air raid notifications. Google does not mention at any time the establishment of an application for its own system, which suggests that users will not have to do anything to benefit from it since it will be integrated into Play Services. This system is reminiscent of those that warn of the imminence of a natural disaster, such as a tsunami.
XDA Developers, which spotted a few lines of code relating to the function, also leans towards this hypothesis. “The benefit of integrating this feature with Google Play Services means that the vast majority of Android users should be able to receive alerts on their phone“, even without the application, explains the specialized media. “This is because Play Services is built into almost all Android smartphones. This will save users from having to install an entirely separate app, which may be useful for those who may not use their phone as much, may not have seen the Ukrainian alarm on the Google Play Store or aren’t tech savvy“.
The deployment of this new functionality has already begun.