Android Emergency SOS is said to be responsible for many pointless emergency calls

The British police have blamed the recent Android update for many pointless emergency calls. Since the OS update, Android smartphones will automatically call the UK emergency number 999 once you press the power button more than five times in a row.

This has led to a series of unintentional calls, draining emergency responders’ resources, and taking time away from actual emergencies, writes the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC). on Twitter.

UK police take great care to ensure that callers are not actually in danger before they cut off the call. In many cases, police officers will call back to make sure it was an accidental call.

These so-called “silent calls” can keep emergency call centers busy for up to 20 minutes.

Thus, the increasing number of pointless emergency calls is a huge burden on the British police. According to the National Policy Council, they received 169 unintentional emergency calls between 12:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. last Sunday alone — so BBC.

The NPCC states that the increase in useless emergency calls is due to the Android update.

To counter this issue, the NPCC notes that the relevant function can be deactivated on Android devices in Settings under “Emergency SOS”.

This option allows users to turn off the auto call feature and avoid unintended emergency calls. However, it is important to note that the feature can be useful in emergency situations and therefore requires a conscious decision by the user to turn it off.

It remains to be seen whether further measures will be taken to reduce the number of unintended calls and restore the efficiency of emergency services.

The problem also seems to affect mobile phone owners in Germany. Berlin firefighters complain that the number of silent emergency calls has risen dramatically since last week, eg Daily news Communicates.

This was a particular problem on the night of the storm on June 23, when nearly every third call was a silent emergency call. Google announces that individual smartphone manufacturers can change the functionality in their software.