Google is rolling out air raid alerts in Ukraine through Play services
Life in wartime Ukraine includes the frequent wail of air raid sirens ahead of Russian artillery shelling. But as the politics swirling around this situation continues to heat up and the threat assessment expands, Google seems prepared to deploy another ina series of responsesto the crisis that could save people’s lives.
Our sister siteXDA-Developersis reporting from a teardown of Google Play Services v22.06.15 (viaAPK Mirror) some new code that has appeared in English, Russian, and Ukrainian directories related to something called an “Air Raid Warning Details Preference Key.”
User-facing prompts explain that the Government of Ukraine — indicating Google is only working on this feature for that region for now — is providing air raid alert information with notifications intended to go out before an expected shelling and after an alert is canceled. Google uses approximate user location data to determine who and when to send alerts to.
Air raid notifications may read like this:
The Government of Ukraine issued an alert for [LOCATION] at [TIME]. Take shelter immediately. Tap to change settings.
The Government of Ukraine canceled the alert for [LOCATION] at [TIME]. Tap to change settings.
Play services are a choice vector to deliver such a new feature as many Android users have gottenappless COVID-19 contact tracingand more subtle interface changes through frequent, but often-unnoticed updates. If your phone (as with most in Ukraine) came out of the box and booted up a Google login process, you have Google Mobile Services and, thus, you have Google Play services.
Air raid warnings have not officially rolled out in any capacity as far as we’re aware and inactive features found in APK teardowns don’t always go public. But if the conflict continues on at this rate, these alerts can’t come soon enough.
UPDATE: 2022/03/10 14:43 EST BY JULES WANG
Google hasconfirmedit is rolling out air raid alert notifications at the request and with the help of the Ukrainian government, which already runs an alerts system.
Android VP of Engineering Dave Burke explains how the OS is able to latch on:
The rollout begins today and should be on all Ukrainian Android phones in a few days.
Broader branding hints at wider paid-tier ambitions
The note-taking app I should have used all along
Boost Mobile sees changes, too
$135 is its lowest price in months
Perfect for all types of devices
Tablets and accessories are also on sale
