What you need to know
- Google is rolling out a new status sharing feature to its Personal Safety app.
- You'll be able to update your emergency contacts at critical points.
- These include call times, low-battery alerts, and your real-time location.
One of the most distinctively useful apps on the Pixel line is its Personal Safety app. A nifty app that's a potential lifesaver, it gets better and more useful over time. Google has now added a new status updates tab to the app. Say you're in an emergency, you'll be able to alert your chosen set of emergency contacts to a select set of actions. These include; if you're making a phone call, your real-time location, to when your battery dips below 15% and into the danger zone.
It's been rolling out slowly since the news was reported earlier in the week by Android Police, and we've now been able to use it on our own devices.
Writing about the Personal Safety app in June, Android Central found it to be a very useful app that's helpful even when you're not sharing your minute by minute itinerary with emergency contacts, saying:
Here's something everyone should do: set up the core of the Personal Safety app with your information. You can add core medical information like your blood type, allergies, medications, and organ donor status, plus your address and perhaps most critically, emergency contacts. Then, if something were to happen to you and your phone is available, healthcare workers or emergency responders can access that information from your lock screen. That's information that could save your life, or at a minimum, keep your emergency contacts informed as to your whereabouts.
If you have an eligible Pixel phone, check the Personal Safety app to see if the new Status page has gone live for you.
Have you listened to this week's Android Central Podcast?
Every week, the Android Central Podcast brings you the latest tech news, analysis and hot takes, with familiar co-hosts and special guests.
