7 ms·

Funny, because I have the opposite problem. My Pixel dials 911 out of random and I always have to race to disconnect the call. Just last night my Pixel Watch s

Funny, because I have the opposite problem. My Pixel dials 911 out of random and I always have to race to disconnect the call. Just last night my Pixel Watch started ringing out of random while I was eating dinner and it said it was dialing 911. I saw a phone call pop up on my Pixel 6 phone but fortunately canceled it before it connected. My watch didn't even tell me why it dialed 911, and once I disconnected the call it just disappeared from my watch. Totally useless! There should really be a hard-to-accidentally-accept confirmation dialog for any kind of automated emergency dial feature. This is ridiculous because this is probably the 3rd time this has happened to me.

postalrat 3y ago
How are you doing this? Dialing an emergency has never happened to me by accident on Android or iOS. It has happened to me many times on office phones where you need to use 9 to route your call. And you learn to just stay on the call if you dial me mistake because they will call back if you disconnect and telling them it was a mistake if much quicker. They must deal with it all the time
- OtomotO 3y ago
  After I retired my last smartphone, a Nokia something, the same thing happened. I used it purely as a mp3 player when walking the woods and it would randomly call the emergency line (not 911 in my country) I barely could cancel the call before it went through as of course I was walking and had headphones in. I figured it had something to do with a button... it got more annoying over time so what I did to fix it was: change the emergency number to my girlfriend`s
- skipkey 3y ago
  I had this happen with my iPhone a few years ago. Basically there’s a setting where some combination of the side buttons pressed together calls 911. I was in a borrowed car and the cup holder was just the right width to do this when I hit a bump. The very nice 911 operator told me it happened all the time. After the second time it happened I tracked down the setting to disable it.
  - dcormier 3y ago
    In iOS 17, there are two related settings for this is under Settings Emergency SOS.
- wolkmo 3y ago
  Happened to me twice with an iPhone. Both times I triggered it when the phone was lagging for some reason (eg it got too hot and throttled down). I guess iOS doesn't track the delay between button presses properly when it's overloaded. I was able to cancel the call in time, but it's a horrifying seeing the timer go down while mashing the non-responsive stop button.
  - hot_gril 3y ago
    Sounds about right, considering how many accidental screenshots I've taken during lag when I press the two buttons involved in the combo a few seconds apart.
- lopkeny12ko 3y ago
  > How are you doing this? Dialing an emergency has never happened to me by accident on Android or iOS. I wish I could tell you. As far as I can tell, there's no way, either on my watch or my phone, to figure out retroactively why it automatically dialed 911. I know the Emergency SOS feature allows dialing 911 with some sequence of power button presses, but I don't think I was pressing the crown on my watch at the time.
  - VTimofeenko 3y ago
    I had my Pixel 5 dial 911 once at random. There was a tiny piece of debris stuck in the power button that triggered the call. A couple of blasts with a compressor and this hasn't happened since.
    - pks016 3y ago
      I had the same issue with my Pixel 5. I booked an uber one time and suddenly it dialed 911. Have to switch off the phone. Most tensed 30 mins of last winter. Later figured out the issue with power button; works fine till now.
minitoar 3y ago
I think a confirmation dialog would defeat the purpose of an auto dial here — you need the auto dial because you have been incapacitated.
- srmatto 3y ago
  Apple's approach is to give you some fixed amount of time to cancel before it auto-dials an emergency number.
  - denysvitali 3y ago
    Pixel does the same, but the amount of times it triggers automatically can be different...
psanford 3y ago
Turn off Emergency SOS on your watch and phone.
rkagerer 3y ago
Jeez - can't dial 911, randomly dials 911. I don't understand why these devices can't even do the most core feature of a phone properly. This will sound crass but the development teams (right up to CEO's) should be dragged out to the gallows and flogged. If it was my product I would have made damn sure the 911 experience was perfect before shipping, and not rested for a minute until any bugs were solidly quashed - up to and including recalling all sold units and overhauling the flakey architecture if needed. This is life safety we're talking about, not only for their users but also everyone else impacted by their blatent abuse of the emergency services system. Would we tolerate bridges that collapsed with equally ambivalent consequences for those who engineered them?
- numpad0 3y ago
  I can hallucinate couple different explanations for that: - Modern software is way too overcomplicated to take seriously. - 911 is handled too specially, leading to oversights by implementers. - Feature importance to you has nothing to do with implementation difficulties. etc.
  - denysvitali 3y ago
    Yes, I think the real problem is #2. The only reliable way to test 911 features is a test lab, to which the average engineer doesn't have access to. On top of that, calling 911 isn't exactly as placing a normal call - so the only way to test is... to call 911. Again, a test lab should help towards these things, but I doubt Google has one accessible to the average engineer working on the dialer. Plus, they most likely don't have a way to automatically test these changes - or they might happen as part of other "features" (remember the Microsoft Teams bug that caused similar issues?). In the end, the smarter our smartphones become - the dumber they are at doing the one single thing they were initially meant to do - get help in case of an emergency.
    - philipov 3y ago
      > Again, a test lab should help towards these things, but I doubt Google has one accessible to the average engineer working on the dialer. And why not? It seems like the real real problem is #4: Management doesn't take seriously people's need to reach emergency services because it's not a profit center.
petabytes 3y ago
When you hold down the power button, there is a big red emergency button beside the restart button. I've gotten pretty close to accidentally pressing it.
LesZedCB 3y ago
on android, pressing power five times calls 911. you can turn it off in settings. it's a good idea but sadly too easy to do if you're trying to turn the volume down instead for example. also, even if it's awkward, stay on the line and explain. they usually appreciate it.
Waterluvian 3y ago
Some 911 operator online once mentioned that most of the calls they get are “butt dials.” And then when I called months back I got an answering machine and waited what felt like an eternity (was one minute) to be routed to someone who then routed me elsewhere after determining what my needs were.
escapecharacter 3y ago
Ah, 911 Georg
Popeyes 3y ago
This happened to me, it was the emergency shortcut on the phone. Press the power button four times and it calls the police. You can turn it off. It was the button that kept triggering rather than a software fault.
lost_tourist 3y ago
My phone went from a hobby to a tool when I switched to iphone. Don't regret it at all.

postalrat 3y ago

How are you doing this? Dialing an emergency has never happened to me by accident on Android or iOS. It has happened to me many times on office phones where you need to use 9 to route your call. And you learn to just stay on the call if you dial me mistake because they will call back if you disconnect and telling them it was a mistake if much quicker. They must deal with it all the time

OtomotO 3y ago
After I retired my last smartphone, a Nokia something, the same thing happened. I used it purely as a mp3 player when walking the woods and it would randomly call the emergency line (not 911 in my country) I barely could cancel the call before it went through as of course I was walking and had headphones in. I figured it had something to do with a button... it got more annoying over time so what I did to fix it was: change the emergency number to my girlfriend`s
skipkey 3y ago
I had this happen with my iPhone a few years ago. Basically there’s a setting where some combination of the side buttons pressed together calls 911. I was in a borrowed car and the cup holder was just the right width to do this when I hit a bump. The very nice 911 operator told me it happened all the time. After the second time it happened I tracked down the setting to disable it.
- dcormier 3y ago
  In iOS 17, there are two related settings for this is under Settings Emergency SOS.
wolkmo 3y ago
Happened to me twice with an iPhone. Both times I triggered it when the phone was lagging for some reason (eg it got too hot and throttled down). I guess iOS doesn't track the delay between button presses properly when it's overloaded. I was able to cancel the call in time, but it's a horrifying seeing the timer go down while mashing the non-responsive stop button.
- hot_gril 3y ago
  Sounds about right, considering how many accidental screenshots I've taken during lag when I press the two buttons involved in the combo a few seconds apart.
lopkeny12ko 3y ago
> How are you doing this? Dialing an emergency has never happened to me by accident on Android or iOS. I wish I could tell you. As far as I can tell, there's no way, either on my watch or my phone, to figure out retroactively why it automatically dialed 911. I know the Emergency SOS feature allows dialing 911 with some sequence of power button presses, but I don't think I was pressing the crown on my watch at the time.
- VTimofeenko 3y ago
  I had my Pixel 5 dial 911 once at random. There was a tiny piece of debris stuck in the power button that triggered the call. A couple of blasts with a compressor and this hasn't happened since.
  - pks016 3y ago
    I had the same issue with my Pixel 5. I booked an uber one time and suddenly it dialed 911. Have to switch off the phone. Most tensed 30 mins of last winter. Later figured out the issue with power button; works fine till now.

minitoar 3y ago

I think a confirmation dialog would defeat the purpose of an auto dial here — you need the auto dial because you have been incapacitated.

srmatto 3y ago
Apple's approach is to give you some fixed amount of time to cancel before it auto-dials an emergency number.
- denysvitali 3y ago
  Pixel does the same, but the amount of times it triggers automatically can be different...

psanford 3y ago

Turn off Emergency SOS on your watch and phone.

rkagerer 3y ago

Jeez - can't dial 911, randomly dials 911. I don't understand why these devices can't even do the most core feature of a phone properly. This will sound crass but the development teams (right up to CEO's) should be dragged out to the gallows and flogged. If it was my product I would have made damn sure the 911 experience was perfect before shipping, and not rested for a minute until any bugs were solidly quashed - up to and including recalling all sold units and overhauling the flakey architecture if needed. This is life safety we're talking about, not only for their users but also everyone else impacted by their blatent abuse of the emergency services system. Would we tolerate bridges that collapsed with equally ambivalent consequences for those who engineered them?

numpad0 3y ago
I can hallucinate couple different explanations for that: - Modern software is way too overcomplicated to take seriously. - 911 is handled too specially, leading to oversights by implementers. - Feature importance to you has nothing to do with implementation difficulties. etc.
- denysvitali 3y ago
  Yes, I think the real problem is #2. The only reliable way to test 911 features is a test lab, to which the average engineer doesn't have access to. On top of that, calling 911 isn't exactly as placing a normal call - so the only way to test is... to call 911. Again, a test lab should help towards these things, but I doubt Google has one accessible to the average engineer working on the dialer. Plus, they most likely don't have a way to automatically test these changes - or they might happen as part of other "features" (remember the Microsoft Teams bug that caused similar issues?). In the end, the smarter our smartphones become - the dumber they are at doing the one single thing they were initially meant to do - get help in case of an emergency.
  - philipov 3y ago
    > Again, a test lab should help towards these things, but I doubt Google has one accessible to the average engineer working on the dialer. And why not? It seems like the real real problem is #4: Management doesn't take seriously people's need to reach emergency services because it's not a profit center.

petabytes 3y ago

When you hold down the power button, there is a big red emergency button beside the restart button. I've gotten pretty close to accidentally pressing it.

LesZedCB 3y ago

on android, pressing power five times calls 911. you can turn it off in settings. it's a good idea but sadly too easy to do if you're trying to turn the volume down instead for example. also, even if it's awkward, stay on the line and explain. they usually appreciate it.

Waterluvian 3y ago

Some 911 operator online once mentioned that most of the calls they get are “butt dials.” And then when I called months back I got an answering machine and waited what felt like an eternity (was one minute) to be routed to someone who then routed me elsewhere after determining what my needs were.

escapecharacter 3y ago

Ah, 911 Georg

Popeyes 3y ago

This happened to me, it was the emergency shortcut on the phone. Press the power button four times and it calls the police. You can turn it off. It was the button that kept triggering rather than a software fault.

lost_tourist 3y ago

My phone went from a hobby to a tool when I switched to iphone. Don't regret it at all.