Google adds air raid alert feature to Android phones in Ukraine

System leverages mechanism built by Google for earthquake alerts

Android users in Ukraine will get alerts of air raids by the Russian military directly on their phones via Google Play Services.

Google announced in a blog post on Thursday that it is working with the Ukrainian government to roll out an air raid alerts system for Android phones in the country.

“Tragically, millions of people in Ukraine now rely on airstrike alerts to try to get to safety. At the request, and with the help, of the government of Ukraine, we’ve started rolling out a rapid Air Raid Alerts system for Android phones in Ukraine,” the tech giant said.

“This work is supplemental to the country’s existing air raid alert systems, and based on alerts already being delivered by the Ukrainian government,” it said in the blog post.

The air raid warning system makes use of the mechanism built by the company for earthquake alerts.

“The system leverages our low latency alert mechanism we built for earthquake alerts... The system starts rolling out today and will ramp up to target all Android phones in Ukraine over the next few days,” tweeted David Burke, the vice president of engineering at Google for Android.

XDA Developers, who first reported on the new feature, said a vast majority of Android users in Ukraine can receive these alerts on their phones.

As the Play Store app is available on almost every Android smartphone, it would save users from needing to install a separate app to get air raid alerts, making the feature useful even for those who are not tech savvy.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, Google has halted several of its operations in the country, including pausing its ad sales and removing Russian state-funded media apps like RT and Sputnik from Google Play in Europe.

The company has also stopped Russian customers from receiving access to paid services on the Play Store and YouTube.

“In Europe, we are removing apps from Russian state-funded media beyond RT and Sputnik from Google Play. And as stipulated by the EU’s Council Regulation (EU) 2022/350, we have removed RT and Sputnik from our Search results in the European Union,” the company noted in its blog post in a recent update.

“The Russian invasion of Ukraine is both a tragedy and a humanitarian disaster in the making... Our teams are working around the clock to support people in Ukraine through our products, defend against cybersecurity threats, surface high-quality, reliable information and ensure the safety and security of our colleagues and their families in the region,” it noted.

This map shows the extent of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (Press Association Images)

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