The service is available for Android phones running 4.0 or later.
While nobody wants to make them, it’s important that emergency calls are fast and accurate in a time of need. Google launched its Emergency Location Service (ELS) back in 2016 as a way to make these calls as effective as possible, and thanks to the help of a few brands in the U.S., ELS is now making its way to the States.
When you make a call to an emergency number, ELS takes data from your phone’s GPS, Wi-Fi, and mobile network to provide more accurate location info to the 911 dispatcher. ELS works both indoors and outdoors and provides the same level of location accuracy you get when using Google Maps.
Google’s partnering with RapidsSOS, T-Mobile, and West to bring ELS to the United States. You’ll need an Android phone running 4.0 or later in order for ELS to work, but assuming you do, there’s nothing you have to worry about. There aren’t any updates or apps to install — it all just works.
Once your location is found, Google never sees it. Everything is computed right on your device, and once ELS determines precisely where you are, the location info is sent straight to the emergency provider.
With this expansion, ELS is now available in over 14 countries around the world and is used for 140,000+ calls every single day.
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