Android maker Google is following in arch-rival Apple’s footsteps with the launch of its own Emergency SOS feature for Android.
The feature would be easily connected to a host of satellite services, the company confirmed today.
For now, it’s in the initial phase of testing and will soon pop up across all Google Pixel devices, thanks to this latest software update arising soon.
When you enter the settings tab, you simply click on Safety and Emergency and that’s where users will now see an innovative option dubbed ‘satellite SOS’. This feature isn’t activating anything as per reports from Mishaal Rahman (via @Nail_Sadykov).
Image: Mishaal Rahman / X
But that does not mean you cannot attain the benefits of menus displaying an easy way to text with all kinds of emergency services intact. In the same manner, users can share location data when they cannot achieve connectivity to any mobile or wi-fi network.
In cases when you don’t have the right mobile network in place, you can see options for Satellite SOS usage, the menu added. All replies would be sent to the emergency services to attain the right kind of help.
Additionally, you will find a new menu for test features which will entail a ‘try a demo’ button that states how Google would tap Garmin to give way to the emergency service for use. But for the latter, users would need to pay more to get connectivity to the respective satellites on offer.
For now, the company has yet to provide more details on this front or even generate any replies for comments either. But this is clear proof of how the firm is very near to launching its own services to fair against the company’s Emergency SOS capability.
We are excited to see what’s next if and when the company includes a host of other partners. Remember, during the year’s start, we saw the search engine giant explain how it was keen on making investments linked to the world of AST SpaceMobile. The latter is already working on its own array of satellites to better web connectivity to devices present on the ground.
We’re also hearing more on this front from Iridium which is working on satellite-to-phone services that are solely for Android phone devices but that won’t be arriving until the year 2025.
Read next: Users' Web Browsing Data Is A Highly Sensitive Matter, FTC Rules
The feature would be easily connected to a host of satellite services, the company confirmed today.
For now, it’s in the initial phase of testing and will soon pop up across all Google Pixel devices, thanks to this latest software update arising soon.
When you enter the settings tab, you simply click on Safety and Emergency and that’s where users will now see an innovative option dubbed ‘satellite SOS’. This feature isn’t activating anything as per reports from Mishaal Rahman (via @Nail_Sadykov).
But that does not mean you cannot attain the benefits of menus displaying an easy way to text with all kinds of emergency services intact. In the same manner, users can share location data when they cannot achieve connectivity to any mobile or wi-fi network.
In cases when you don’t have the right mobile network in place, you can see options for Satellite SOS usage, the menu added. All replies would be sent to the emergency services to attain the right kind of help.
Additionally, you will find a new menu for test features which will entail a ‘try a demo’ button that states how Google would tap Garmin to give way to the emergency service for use. But for the latter, users would need to pay more to get connectivity to the respective satellites on offer.
For now, the company has yet to provide more details on this front or even generate any replies for comments either. But this is clear proof of how the firm is very near to launching its own services to fair against the company’s Emergency SOS capability.
We are excited to see what’s next if and when the company includes a host of other partners. Remember, during the year’s start, we saw the search engine giant explain how it was keen on making investments linked to the world of AST SpaceMobile. The latter is already working on its own array of satellites to better web connectivity to devices present on the ground.
We’re also hearing more on this front from Iridium which is working on satellite-to-phone services that are solely for Android phone devices but that won’t be arriving until the year 2025.
Read next: Users' Web Browsing Data Is A Highly Sensitive Matter, FTC Rules
