Affiliate links on Android Authority may earn us a commission. Learn more.
Google is prepping a solution to stop your Pixel Watch from accidentally calling 911 (APK teardown)
- Google could soon release a new Emergency SOS gesture for the Pixel Watch to prevent accidental 911 calls.
- This new gesture will require users to touch and hold the screen for three seconds after pressing the crown five times to trigger Emergency SOS.
Pixel Watch’s Emergency SOS feature can be quite useful when you need to call emergency services or an emergency contact quickly. You can activate it by pressing the smartwatch’s crown five times in quick succession. This gesture is easy to trigger, making it perfect for emergencies. However, user reports suggest it also results in frequent accidental 911 calls. Thankfully, it seems Google has a solution in the works.
An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
While digging through the latest Pixel Watch app update (version 3.3.0.714022638), we’ve spotted several new strings revealing that Google could soon introduce a “Touch & hold to call” option to trigger Emergency SOS.
<string name="emergency_sos_touchandhold">Touch & hold to call</string>
<string name="emergency_sos_touchandhold_description">On your watch, quickly press the crown 5 times, then touch & hold the screen for 3 seconds to call for help</string>
<string name="emergency_sos_auto_call">Automatically call</string>
<string name="emergency_sos_auto_call_description">On your watch, quickly press the crown 5 times to call for help after a 5-second countdown</string>As stated in the strings, this option adds another step to the process, requiring users to touch and hold the screen for three seconds after pressing the crown five times to make an emergency call. It should address the issue of the Pixel Watch accidentally calling emergency services to a great extent.
We’ve also spotted a demo showcasing how this new method will work upon release, which you can check out in the attached video. It’s worth noting that the “Touch & hold to call” option won’t be the only method for triggering Emergency SOS on the Pixel Watch. The strings reveal that Google will let users choose the upcoming touch-and-hold option or continue using the old method, which also seems to be getting a five second delay before the emergency call goes through.
The new Emergency SOS trigger is still in development and isn’t live in the latest Pixel Watch app build. Google will likely release it with a future update. We’ll update this post as soon as it rolls out to users.