- Google has launched a new emergency live video feature for Android
- This allows you to show first responders a live feed from your phone’s camera during an emergency.
- It’s currently only available in the US and parts of Germany and Mexico, but may soon launch elsewhere.
If you have an Android phone, you may now have access to a feature that could one day save your life, or the life of a loved one, as Google is launching what it calls Android Emergency Live Video.
This feature allows you to share live video from your phone’s camera during an emergency call or text exchange. So if, for example, there’s a car accident or medical emergency and you’re talking to emergency services, they’ll be able to send a request to see live video from your phone.
You can accept the request with a single tap, the stream is encrypted for security, and you can choose to stop sharing the video at any time.
But it seems like a potentially very useful feature, allowing emergency personnel to get a better idea of the situation and potentially better guide you through life-saving steps such as CPR.
A great idea with limited availability.
It seems like an obvious idea, to the point where I’m surprised we haven’t seen this before, but better late than never.
Android Emergency Live Video is compatible with Android phones running Android 8 and above with Google Play Services, so that should be most of them and no setup is required.
That said, it only works in the US right now, plus select regions of Germany and Mexico. However, Google says it is “working closely with public safety organizations around the world to expand this capability to more regions.” Hopefully we’ll see this in more places soon.
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