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Android’s emergency call shortcut is flooding dispatchers with false calls

arstechnica.com

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Re: Android’s emergency call shortcut is flooding dispatchers with false calls

#121

Post by treyd »

I'm having an issue related to this right now actually. Some spec of dust or something must have gotten into the power button on my Pixel 4a, so very occasionally it'll jostle into such a position that every time I push the power button it registers as two presses. If I only press it once, it think I'm using the double-press shortcut to open the camera. This was mildly confusing the first few times it happened, but as I was trying to mess with it I triggered this emergency call shortcut (since it only requires 3 presses with this issue). Fortunately I noticed it the first time times it happened and was able to do the slide-to-cancel, so it avoided turning into a larger issue.

I've gotten it into a position where if this occurs I can blow near the power button which typically makes it go away for a day or so, but it was very scary walking around with the phone out before I understood the nature of the issue, because I wasn't sure if it would magically trigger the power button unprompted just sitting in my pocket. I've ordered a new phone (it was nearing time for an upgrade anyways) but I've yet to set it up, so I'm stuck with this for the time being.

Re: Android’s emergency call shortcut is flooding dispatchers with false calls

#122

Post by GeekyBear »

labster wrote: post #101
peanut-walrus wrote: post #88

I dropped my Pixel in water and since it had previously cracked, it had lost the waterproofing. The water apparently shorted the power button and the screen. That was a fun night when the dead phone woke up and started dialling 112 repeatedly and there was nothing I could do short of smashing the damn thing with a hammer to stop it. Every electronic device needs to have a physical disconnect for the power supply. It…

Just put it in a Faraday cage. Problem solved.

One of the things I remember from the Snowden reporting is that he had the reporters use a freezer as a Faraday cage for their phones.

Re: Android’s emergency call shortcut is flooding dispatchers with false calls

#123

Post by boringuser2 »

DanHulton wrote: post #100
tazjin wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a nice, handmade mechanical watch and it's never tried to spam-call any emergency services. Also shows the time fairly reliably.

These are not the same category of product in the same way that a smartphone and a rotary phone are not the same category of product, despite have words in their name in common.

I have one, too.

A swiss piece, ~20k retail.

It's a nice piece of men's jewelry, but that's all it is.

Re: Android’s emergency call shortcut is flooding dispatchers with false calls

#124

Post by j-bos »

andsoitis wrote: post #116
labster wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just put it in a Faraday cage. Problem solved.

>> That was a fun night when the dead phone woke up and started dialling 112 repeatedly and there was nothing I could do short of smashing the damn thing with a hammer to stop it. > Just put it in a Faraday cage. Problem solved. Even if I don't have a hammer handy, I could probably find something in the middle of the night to smash the thing. A Faraday cage on the other hand...

Not sure your kitchen situation, but most homes have a microwave. Shouldn't that work?

Re: Android’s emergency call shortcut is flooding dispatchers with false calls

#125

Post by labster »

GeekyBear wrote: post #122
labster wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just put it in a Faraday cage. Problem solved.

One of the things I remember from the Snowden reporting is that he had the reporters use a freezer as a Faraday cage for their phones.

Talk about a cold reception.

Re: Android’s emergency call shortcut is flooding dispatchers with false calls

#126

Post by fomine3 »

j-bos wrote: post #124
andsoitis wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> That was a fun night when the dead phone woke up and started dialling 112 repeatedly and there was nothing I could do short of smashing the damn thing with a hammer to stop it. > Just put it in a Faraday cage. Problem solved. Even if I don't have a hammer handy, I could probably find something in the middle of the night to smash the thing. A Faraday cage on the other hand...

Not sure your kitchen situation, but most homes have a microwave. Shouldn't that work?

There are many frequency bands used by phone, I'm not sure everything is blocked by microwave.

Re: Android’s emergency call shortcut is flooding dispatchers with false calls

#127

Post by peanut-walrus »

j-bos wrote: post #124
andsoitis wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> That was a fun night when the dead phone woke up and started dialling 112 repeatedly and there was nothing I could do short of smashing the damn thing with a hammer to stop it. > Just put it in a Faraday cage. Problem solved. Even if I don't have a hammer handy, I could probably find something in the middle of the night to smash the thing. A Faraday cage on the other hand...

Not sure your kitchen situation, but most homes have a microwave. Shouldn't that work?

Tried that. Didn't work.

Re: Android’s emergency call shortcut is flooding dispatchers with false calls

#129

Post by fomine3 »

topherPedersen wrote: post #6

I saw this happen to someone recently. Their phone was having other issues, so we were trying to reboot it, and Google changed which buttons you have to push to turn your phone off. You used to be able to just press the one button to turn the phone off, but now you have to press 2. So I think people might be pressing the power button a bunch of time now because they're trying to turn their phone off and don't realize…

Another example of stupid copying Apple

Re: Android’s emergency call shortcut is flooding dispatchers with false calls

#130

Post by fomine3 »

xethos wrote: post #21
danpalmer wrote: post #12

iPhones have exactly the same feature, activated in almost the same way, except that it requires one fewer interactions with the device to trigger, and yet, there's no reporting about this happening too much with iPhones, nor was there any when the feature came out a few years ago. Additionally, this doesn't seem to have been a problem when it rolled out on Pixel devices a year and a half ago, Pixels are certainly co…

From TFA: > The funny thing is, Android 12 — and this easy emergency call feature — came out a year and a half ago. [...] the feature is only now hitting enough people to become a national problem. Google's Pixel devices get new Android updates immediately, but everyone else can take months or years to get new versions of Android [...]. When this landed on Pixel devices in 2021, it was immediately flagged as a proble…

On my Galaxy, it was enabled by Android 13 upgrade. It seems that Samsung had postponed to enable it
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