Google Testing Hands-Free Emergency SOS On Phones: Here's How It Will Work

Google appears to be working on a voice-activated version of Emergency SOS for Android. Today, Emergency SOS is triggered by pressing the power button five times. The new option would let people start an alert without touching the phone. References to the feature turned up in the code of Google's Personal Safety app. It isn't available to users yet.

How it could work

An animation in the code suggests the feature would activate when a user says 'Help' three times in a row. It shows a location check, emergency video recording and emergency calling starting at that point. The animation looks likely to appear during setup, and strings in the code mention adding a hands-free way to start.

Voice commands would also handle confirmation. Users could say 'cancel' to dismiss the alert, and 'yes' to let it go ahead. The reports differ on exactly who is contacted: Android Authority, the first to spot this feature, says the feature sends an SOS and calls first responders.

Which phones

Personal Safety isn't limited to Pixels, so the feature could reach supported Android phones from other makers. Samsung is likely the exception because it has its own SOS system. Another outlet suggests Pixels could get it first, with other devices following, but that is speculation.

The finding comes from an APK teardown, which examines unreleased code in an app. Such code can change before release or be dropped entirely. Google could also alter how the feature works or scrap it.

The Personal Safety app lets users share their location with loved ones, receive extreme-weather alerts and use Emergency SOS. It also covers Fall Detection and Crash Detection.