Police departments all over the UK have issued warnings about a new Android feature that is causing switchboards to receive unintentional “silent” 999 calls.
When a side button is repeatedly pressed, the Emergency SOS feature dials.
According to police chiefs, they believe it to be a contributing factor in the record numbers of 999 calls.
In order to fix the issue, manufacturers are expected to release updates, according to Google, which creates the most popular Android phone software.
The new update “added a new SOS emergency function for devices to call 999 through the power button being pressed five times or more,” according to the National Police Chiefs Council.
“Nationally, all emergency services are currently experiencing record high 999 call volumes. There are a few reasons for this, but one we think is having a significant impact is an update to Android smartphones.”
Silent call reportedly took Devon and Cornwall Police 20 minutes to handle. They advised people who dialed 999 by accident to stay on the line and admit their error to the operator.
Between 00:00 and 19:00 BST on Sunday alone, the force reported receiving 169 silent 999 calls, according to the reports.
Police Scotland said, BT had noted “a significant increase in 999 accident calls.”.
The feature was present in Android 12 in 2021, but since Android 13 was updated last year, many people have noted specific problems.
The websites of the manufacturers shows guiding information on how to disable the feature.
The issue is not unique to the UK. The European Emergency Number Association issued a warning at the beginning of June stating that some of its members had informed them of a “surge in automatic false calls originating from Android devices.”
A Google representative told reporters that it was up to manufacturers to control how Emergency SOS operated on their devices if they chose to make it available.
“To help these manufacturers prevent unintentional emergency calls on their devices, Android is providing them with additional guidance and resources,” they said.
“We anticipate device manufacturers will roll out updates to their users that address this issue shortly. Users that continue to experience this issue should switch Emergency SOS off for the next couple of days.”
Source-BBC
