3 ms·

My pixel 4a5g running LineageOS did it on me one day from pressing the on/off button a few times in rapid succession. I had no idea it would do that. I was just

My pixel 4a5g running LineageOS did it on me one day from pressing the on/off button a few times in rapid succession. I had no idea it would do that. I was just in the final stages of trying to get any reaction out of it because the screen was not coming on. Turns out the phone was still running and working but the screen had died. I don't think any of these too-automatic and non-apparent things are a good idea. I had no intention to call 911, and I had not intentionally configured that action. I'm just glad the speaker and mic still worked and I was able to hear the operator and respond to them. I don't even see how this one even helps anyone even in theory. Is it even any faster than dialing 911? If I were in an emergency, would I remember some weird trick like that at a time like that? Are they thinking that people in duress will rapidly and repeatedly squeez their phone naturally and so it dials when needed without you consciouly needing to? I guess maybe the theory is that in any kind of car or bike crash, or even ordinary fall or violence, there is a good chance the violence will have damaged the phone's most fragile part, but just like in my case the phone still worked. So it's actually somewhat likely to be a valuable option to have some way to dial 911 witbout a working screen. Ok maybe I guess.

albert180 4y ago
It helps you when you need to call 911 quickly but maybe can't talk freely or something dangerous will happen to you (E.g. domestic violence, Assault, etc). The Pixel will transmit your location and also inform 5 emergency contacts, start a camera stream etc (depending on what you configured). It's also not enabled by default so you must have enabled it
- Brian_K_White 4y ago
  I like the covert aspect. That sounds very good if you know about it so that it's a tool ready for you to use on purpose like mace in your bag etc. At least this did require pressing a button unlike the fall/crash detection from the article.
  - avian 4y ago
    It's not covert in any way. The phone emits a siren sound at full volume for a few seconds before calling and the call comes up in handsfree/speaker mode.
    - Brian_K_White 4y ago
      Incorrect. The phone did not emit any siren. I had no idea it had dialed anything until I happened to hear the operator. It wasn't even on speakerpbone but normal phone mode, so it was quiet, but luckily I was in a quiet room at thd time. The speaker was functional. Other normal sounds were happening. It did vibrate, but it does that for several ordinary events, including reboot which I was half expecting, and so was not alarming. Perhaps the audibility is configurable, placing this right back into "tool under the users control", and covert if the user wants it to be.
      - avian 4y ago
        I just checked the settings again. Indeed there is a "Play alarm sound" setting if you scroll down. I guess it was enabled by default in my case (good, since otherwise I might not know that my phone made the call from my backpack). Slightly off topic, but I did not even notice before the Emergency SOS settings screen has anything below the break. This UI design is just terrible. There is absolutely nothing hinting that you can scroll down: https://www.tablix.org/~avian/android_13_emergency_sos_settings.png https://www.tablix.org/~avian/android_13_emergency_sos_setti... (Looking at the screenshot now, you can just about see that alarm sound setting below the slightly transparent bottom row. That's just about impossible to see on the real phone, plus the row has the usual Android set of buttons on top, obscuring the text even further).
        Brian_K_White 4y ago
        I don't remember where but I've seen examples of that "no clues to scroll down" or "no clues this word is clickable" etc a few different places. It's like we're forgetting everything we've spent hundreds of years learning. (interfaces in general, from way before computers)
avian 4y ago
A few days ago I had a similar experience. My Nokia phone running Android 13 called emergency services (112 in Europe) while I was carrying it in my backpack. I can only guess that some other thing was randomly pressing against the power button. I was not aware this feature exists and certainly did not turn it on myself. It must have been turned on by default. I was shocked because the phone suddenly started emitting a loud siren sound and then the operator came on speaker asking what the emergency is. All while I was still trying to figure out what the hell is even happening. I managed to explain that there was no emergency and that my phone apparently made the call automatically. The operator was understanding and I was thinking that it probably wasn't the first call like that they received.
- SnowHill9902 4y ago
  That’s lousy. Next time an attacker hears you call 911 (112), they’ll snatch your phone from your hands and tell the operator I’m sorry it just called by mistake. Oh don’t worry we’ll close the case now.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
comex 4y ago
Not sure about LineageOS, but Apple's crash and fall detection is fully automatic – it sounds a warning and gives you a chance to cancel, but if you don't, it calls 911 without any interaction. Which would be helpful if you're unable to reach your devices, unconscious, etc.
- bell-cot 4y ago
  > Which would be helpful if... ...and 911 and the highly-trained & -equipped responders have all the extra resources and patience needed to handle and respond to all the automated false alarms. And governments don't quickly get sick of the expense and create "ignore automated cries of 'wolf'" policies.
- Moru 4y ago
  Less handy if the 911 responder is buzy with 200 other calls and can't take yours at the moment.
snickerbockers 4y ago
I hate when devices do stuff i don't tell them to do. All it does is create more work because i have to cancel whatever dumb program just got launched without my consent. In stone scenarios it can even be a security liability (see autoplay).
slavik81 4y ago
Similarly, my Pixel 4a called the police yesterday when it fell out of my pocket and hit the floor.
MereInterest 4y ago
My Pixel 3 had a hardware failure where the power button didn’t fully spring back. As a result, it was read as the button being pressed repeatedly, over and over. Most of the time, it was caught in a reboot cycle. If it made it past the reboot cycle, that same feature meant that it tried to call 911, repeatedly.
gregoriol 4y ago
I had this happen with my iPhone while trying to fit it into a case for the bike: the case did press against the buttons because it was difficult to fit... I didn't know about this feature. I disabled it after that. I think it is inappropriate to have such hidden features: while we tech people mostly understand the thing, I bet most people won't even get that it is a hidden feature and would think it is a bug. No one will remember to use it during a real emergency anyway.
- woofyman 4y ago
  How is it hidden? It’s a setting in SOS.
  - gregoriol 4y ago
    It is enabled by default, and there is nothing that will tell you about it without explicitly looking for it.
shocks 4y ago
https://youtu.be/1449kJKxlMQ https://youtu.be/1449kJKxlMQ tldw; there was an accident with a lot of blood and the injured party was able to call 911
tzs 4y ago
> I don't even see how this one even helps anyone even in theory. Is it even any faster than dialing 911? How do you dial if you can't see your phone? One of the things I miss about my old landline phone is that I could dial it entirely by feel. In any kind of accident or medical condition that makes me lose my vision I would not be able to dial a smartphone on-screen keyboard (or even pull up the phone app in the first place). I realized this a few years ago when I suddenly had a black spot appear in one eye. The black spot expanded over the course of a few seconds until I could no longer see anything in that eye. Aside from one eye no longer working, I felt fine. As I was trying to decide if this was a "call 911" thing or a "drive to the emergency room" thing the black started contracting and went away. I felt find and did a few cognitive tests and coordination tests and passed so I decided to wait a bit and see if this was a one time thing. A month later it happened again, but since I was less surprised by it I was able to do some experiments and found that if I looked at a bright light I did see the black lighten and there was a particular spot off to the side where I could actually see (barely) the bright light. After that second incidence I did go to the doctor...and he found nothing. An MRI also showed nothing. So, still no idea what the hell it was, but it has not come back. But it definitely made my realize it would be very useful to be able to summon help without having to see. > If I were in an emergency, would I remember some weird trick like that at a time like that? Are they thinking that people in duress will rapidly and repeatedly squeez their phone naturally and so it dials when needed without you consciouly needing to? I definitely remember at some point during setting up my iPhone (or maybe when I upgrade to the first OS that supported emergency calling?) there was a dialog that explained it and told me how to enable/disable it. On my iPhone (iPhone X...I think there is some variation among different models) the settings (which are all on/off) are • "Call with Hold" where if you hold the side button and a volume for a few seconds you get the emergency screen. If you continue to hold you get an alert sound and a countdown to calling 911. The emergency screen also has a slider for calling 911 and a slider to view your medical ID and a slider to power down the phone. • "Call with 5 Presses". Press the side button 5 times to bring up the emergency screen, and sound the alarm and start the countdown to calling 911. • "Countdown Sound". Turns the alert sound during the 911 countdown on or off. BTW, when you dismiss the emergency screen the phone locks and disables Face ID until you enter your passcode. If you have to hand you phone to someone such as law enforcement, it is pretty easy when reaching into your pocket to get it to trigger "Call with Hold" if you have it enabled. Hold until you get haptic feedback, and then release before the 911 countdown starts so that you won't get an alarm. Then press the side button again to exit the emergency screen.
KMnO4 4y ago
It’s absolutely a good feature. I was a passenger in a car crash last year. I don’t remember where my phone ended up, but after the crash sent everything flying, I saw someone else’s phone in front of me and immediately activated the emergency 911 mode. The phone I had picked up was also now cracked. I believe in this case it still ended up working, but if the digitizer was more damaged the only possible way to call 911 would be the gesture.
scruple 4y ago
Same device and set up. My children have gotten ahold of my phone when I wasn't looking and triggered it twice now. I have a box that I keep my phone in now, on top of the refrigerator. I used to leave it face down on the counter top but they eventually got tall enough or clever enough to get it.

albert180 4y ago

It helps you when you need to call 911 quickly but maybe can't talk freely or something dangerous will happen to you (E.g. domestic violence, Assault, etc). The Pixel will transmit your location and also inform 5 emergency contacts, start a camera stream etc (depending on what you configured). It's also not enabled by default so you must have enabled it

Brian_K_White 4y ago
I like the covert aspect. That sounds very good if you know about it so that it's a tool ready for you to use on purpose like mace in your bag etc. At least this did require pressing a button unlike the fall/crash detection from the article.
- avian 4y ago
  It's not covert in any way. The phone emits a siren sound at full volume for a few seconds before calling and the call comes up in handsfree/speaker mode.
  - Brian_K_White 4y ago
    Incorrect. The phone did not emit any siren. I had no idea it had dialed anything until I happened to hear the operator. It wasn't even on speakerpbone but normal phone mode, so it was quiet, but luckily I was in a quiet room at thd time. The speaker was functional. Other normal sounds were happening. It did vibrate, but it does that for several ordinary events, including reboot which I was half expecting, and so was not alarming. Perhaps the audibility is configurable, placing this right back into "tool under the users control", and covert if the user wants it to be.
    - avian 4y ago
      I just checked the settings again. Indeed there is a "Play alarm sound" setting if you scroll down. I guess it was enabled by default in my case (good, since otherwise I might not know that my phone made the call from my backpack). Slightly off topic, but I did not even notice before the Emergency SOS settings screen has anything below the break. This UI design is just terrible. There is absolutely nothing hinting that you can scroll down: https://www.tablix.org/~avian/android_13_emergency_sos_settings.png https://www.tablix.org/~avian/android_13_emergency_sos_setti... (Looking at the screenshot now, you can just about see that alarm sound setting below the slightly transparent bottom row. That's just about impossible to see on the real phone, plus the row has the usual Android set of buttons on top, obscuring the text even further).
      - Brian_K_White 4y ago
        I don't remember where but I've seen examples of that "no clues to scroll down" or "no clues this word is clickable" etc a few different places. It's like we're forgetting everything we've spent hundreds of years learning. (interfaces in general, from way before computers)

avian 4y ago

A few days ago I had a similar experience. My Nokia phone running Android 13 called emergency services (112 in Europe) while I was carrying it in my backpack. I can only guess that some other thing was randomly pressing against the power button. I was not aware this feature exists and certainly did not turn it on myself. It must have been turned on by default. I was shocked because the phone suddenly started emitting a loud siren sound and then the operator came on speaker asking what the emergency is. All while I was still trying to figure out what the hell is even happening. I managed to explain that there was no emergency and that my phone apparently made the call automatically. The operator was understanding and I was thinking that it probably wasn't the first call like that they received.

SnowHill9902 4y ago
That’s lousy. Next time an attacker hears you call 911 (112), they’ll snatch your phone from your hands and tell the operator I’m sorry it just called by mistake. Oh don’t worry we’ll close the case now.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

comex 4y ago

Not sure about LineageOS, but Apple's crash and fall detection is fully automatic – it sounds a warning and gives you a chance to cancel, but if you don't, it calls 911 without any interaction. Which would be helpful if you're unable to reach your devices, unconscious, etc.

bell-cot 4y ago
> Which would be helpful if... ...and 911 and the highly-trained & -equipped responders have all the extra resources and patience needed to handle and respond to all the automated false alarms. And governments don't quickly get sick of the expense and create "ignore automated cries of 'wolf'" policies.
Moru 4y ago
Less handy if the 911 responder is buzy with 200 other calls and can't take yours at the moment.

snickerbockers 4y ago

I hate when devices do stuff i don't tell them to do. All it does is create more work because i have to cancel whatever dumb program just got launched without my consent. In stone scenarios it can even be a security liability (see autoplay).

slavik81 4y ago

Similarly, my Pixel 4a called the police yesterday when it fell out of my pocket and hit the floor.

MereInterest 4y ago

My Pixel 3 had a hardware failure where the power button didn’t fully spring back. As a result, it was read as the button being pressed repeatedly, over and over. Most of the time, it was caught in a reboot cycle. If it made it past the reboot cycle, that same feature meant that it tried to call 911, repeatedly.

gregoriol 4y ago

I had this happen with my iPhone while trying to fit it into a case for the bike: the case did press against the buttons because it was difficult to fit... I didn't know about this feature. I disabled it after that. I think it is inappropriate to have such hidden features: while we tech people mostly understand the thing, I bet most people won't even get that it is a hidden feature and would think it is a bug. No one will remember to use it during a real emergency anyway.

woofyman 4y ago
How is it hidden? It’s a setting in SOS.
- gregoriol 4y ago
  It is enabled by default, and there is nothing that will tell you about it without explicitly looking for it.

shocks 4y ago

https://youtu.be/1449kJKxlMQ https://youtu.be/1449kJKxlMQ tldw; there was an accident with a lot of blood and the injured party was able to call 911

tzs 4y ago

> I don't even see how this one even helps anyone even in theory. Is it even any faster than dialing 911? How do you dial if you can't see your phone? One of the things I miss about my old landline phone is that I could dial it entirely by feel. In any kind of accident or medical condition that makes me lose my vision I would not be able to dial a smartphone on-screen keyboard (or even pull up the phone app in the first place). I realized this a few years ago when I suddenly had a black spot appear in one eye. The black spot expanded over the course of a few seconds until I could no longer see anything in that eye. Aside from one eye no longer working, I felt fine. As I was trying to decide if this was a "call 911" thing or a "drive to the emergency room" thing the black started contracting and went away. I felt find and did a few cognitive tests and coordination tests and passed so I decided to wait a bit and see if this was a one time thing. A month later it happened again, but since I was less surprised by it I was able to do some experiments and found that if I looked at a bright light I did see the black lighten and there was a particular spot off to the side where I could actually see (barely) the bright light. After that second incidence I did go to the doctor...and he found nothing. An MRI also showed nothing. So, still no idea what the hell it was, but it has not come back. But it definitely made my realize it would be very useful to be able to summon help without having to see. > If I were in an emergency, would I remember some weird trick like that at a time like that? Are they thinking that people in duress will rapidly and repeatedly squeez their phone naturally and so it dials when needed without you consciouly needing to? I definitely remember at some point during setting up my iPhone (or maybe when I upgrade to the first OS that supported emergency calling?) there was a dialog that explained it and told me how to enable/disable it. On my iPhone (iPhone X...I think there is some variation among different models) the settings (which are all on/off) are • "Call with Hold" where if you hold the side button and a volume for a few seconds you get the emergency screen. If you continue to hold you get an alert sound and a countdown to calling 911. The emergency screen also has a slider for calling 911 and a slider to view your medical ID and a slider to power down the phone. • "Call with 5 Presses". Press the side button 5 times to bring up the emergency screen, and sound the alarm and start the countdown to calling 911. • "Countdown Sound". Turns the alert sound during the 911 countdown on or off. BTW, when you dismiss the emergency screen the phone locks and disables Face ID until you enter your passcode. If you have to hand you phone to someone such as law enforcement, it is pretty easy when reaching into your pocket to get it to trigger "Call with Hold" if you have it enabled. Hold until you get haptic feedback, and then release before the 911 countdown starts so that you won't get an alarm. Then press the side button again to exit the emergency screen.

KMnO4 4y ago

It’s absolutely a good feature. I was a passenger in a car crash last year. I don’t remember where my phone ended up, but after the crash sent everything flying, I saw someone else’s phone in front of me and immediately activated the emergency 911 mode. The phone I had picked up was also now cracked. I believe in this case it still ended up working, but if the digitizer was more damaged the only possible way to call 911 would be the gesture.

scruple 4y ago

Same device and set up. My children have gotten ahold of my phone when I wasn't looking and triggered it twice now. I have a box that I keep my phone in now, on top of the refrigerator. I used to leave it face down on the counter top but they eventually got tall enough or clever enough to get it.