Android: Ukrainians will soon receive alerts in the event of Russian bombings

Google has just announced that Android smartphone users in Ukraine will soon receive air raid alerts directly to their phones ahead of planned attacks near their homes.

Google has started rolling out Air Raid Alerts to help the millions affected by the war in Ukraine. In a blog post, Kent Walker, president of Google Global Affairs, explains that the company has worked jointly with the Ukrainian government, “ at his request “, for quickly deploy air raid alerts for top android phones.

” It is tragic that millions of people in Ukraine now depend on airstrike alerts to try to get to safety “wrote Kent Walker. Google had already recently supported Ukraine by stopping selling all its products and services in Russia and Belarus.

How do bombing alerts work on Android?

This new system builds on the low-latency alert mechanism the company has built for seismic alerts. It has already shown its effectiveness on numerous occasions., including last year in the Philippines by saving the lives of many people before a magnitude 6.7 earthquake. Burke also said the system begins rolling out today and will target all Android phones in Ukraine in the next few days.

” This feature complements existing air raid warning systems in the country and builds on alerts already issued by the Ukrainian government writes Google on its blog. Google would use users’ approximate location data to determine to whom and when to send alerts. Ukrainians should therefore make sure to have location activated on their Android smartphones.

According to the source code of the feature, which was analyzed by XDA Developers, Ukrainians will be able to receive a notification when the air raid alert is issued, and another notification when the air raid alert is canceled. For now, it would be available on Google Play Services version v22.06.15 as “Air Raid Warning Details Preference Key”.

Source: Google