Google Launches Android Emergency Live Video in the US

Google is launching today a new Android Emergency Live Video feature in the US, which lets users share a live video feed from their smartphone with first responders during an emergency situation. This is a system-level feature that will work on phones running Android 8 or newer with Google Play services.

In practice, the feature will allow emergency responders to request users via a text conversation or phone call to share a live video feed from their Android phone with a single tap. Users in an emergency situation will see a prompt on their screen asking them to share what their camera sees, and the live video feed is encrypted by default and can be stopped at any time.

“We designed the feature to be simple and secure, with no setup required,” Google said today. “Android Emergency Live Video builds on our work to make it easier to get help and provide users peace of mind through features like Emergency Location Service, Car Crash and Fall Detection, and Satellite SOS.”

In addition to the US, Android Emergency Live Video is available in select regions of Germany and Mexico, Google said today. In case you’re wondering, Apple offers a similar Emergency SOS Live Video feature on iOS, but it requires an iPhone 14 or newer, and it’s also not available in all countries.