Russia-Ukraine war: Google rolls out air raid alerts for Ukrainian users
Washington, March 13: American tech giant Google announced a useful update for Android users in war-torn Ukraine. According to the latest updates, Goggle will now be adding Air Strike alerts for its Ukrainian Android users amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
People in Ukraine would be alerted before the attacks happen around them.
This update is part of Google's Play Services, according to GSM Arena, and the company is reportedly enabling it at the request of the Ukrainian government. The feature is designed to be used in cooperation with the existing raid alert systems. According to Google's VP of Engineering, the company has used the same low-latency system that it uses to detect earthquakes.
Google in a blog post said, “Tragically, millions of people in Ukraine now rely on airstrike alerts to try to get to safety. At the request, and with the help, of the government of Ukraine, we've started rolling out a rapid Air Raid Alerts system for Android phones in Ukraine. This work is supplemental to the country's existing air raid alert systems, and based on alerts already being delivered by the Ukrainian government."
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Additionally, Google has highlighted the Ukrainian Alarm app, which delivers notifications to Ukrainian users of probable air raids in their region.
“We are highlighting the (Ukrainian Alarm) app to Google Play users in Ukraine. This app was created by Ukrainian developers in cooperation with the Ukrainian government to give people better air raid warnings,” the American tech giant said.
Shortly after the Russian military operation in Ukraine started, Google declared that some of its Google Maps features, such as traffic information and crowd data, would be disabled in Ukraine. Their point was that the information may be manipulated.
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-PTC News
