Live data from Hacker News

Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

androidauthority.com

61–70 of 275 posts

Re: Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

#61
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I own one, and reading this I most definitely want a refund. It is utter bolox. Sure, every once in a while your car brakes fail, but that's not really the point of the car, is it? It's made to go forward! Anyways, we will get if fixed eventually. Do you like our newest, just released paint colors?

Im on my 3rd pixel and will not be purchasing another one after learning this (and a a few other issues with the direction the line has been taking)

Re: Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

#62
post #15

They are so lucky. My Samsung Phone already called 911 several times, while I had it in my pocket. And every time I have to explain why. I guess I'll get a Pixel next time.

As in my other comment, this likely comes from the fact that lower end phones use "virtual proximity sensing" instead of a real proximity sensor, and they have a lot of issues when the phone is in a pocket. You need to either disable the double tab feature or upgrade to a "real" flagship like S23.

Re: Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

#63
post #11

It's really absurd how such a problem still exists. Couldn't a separate method be used for emergency calling? For example drop to 3g, don't use the dialer app but a separate "emergency" app.

Having dedicated code path for 911 is literally the problem. It makes it legally almost impossible to test in many countries (since in many countries you're not allowed to dial 911 if you don't have an emergency)

The article explains how to schedule a test call to 911.

Re: Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

#64

It's really absurd how such a problem still exists. Couldn't a separate method be used for emergency calling? For example drop to 3g, don't use the dialer app but a separate "emergency" app.

Probably not exactly what you are looking for, but when one is in such a situation and they happen to have an app like Skype, people can use it for emergency calls (support in the US)

Re: Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

#65
Funny, because I have the opposite problem. My Pixel dials 911 out of random and I always have to race to disconnect the call.

Just last night my Pixel Watch started ringing out of random while I was eating dinner and it said it was dialing 911. I saw a phone call pop up on my Pixel 6 phone but fortunately canceled it before it connected. My watch didn't even tell me why it dialed 911, and once I disconnected the call it just disappeared from my watch. Totally useless!

There should really be a hard-to-accidentally-accept confirmation dialog for any kind of automated emergency dial feature. This is ridiculous because this is probably the 3rd time this has happened to me.

Re: Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's possible the power button is getting bumped repeatedly in your pocket. You could search your Android settings, and make sure "Emergency SOS" is turned off.

It’s also possible that there’s a hardware failure that is making the power button erroneously report button presses, leading to the Emergency SOS. This happened to me on a Pixel 3, which resulted in repeated calls to 911 with no user input. * Can’t power it off for the night, because the flaky power button turns it back on. * Can’t pull the SIM card, because emergency calls don’t require a SIM card to connect. * Can…

[deleted]

Re: Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

#67

This was the final straw for me and why I switched from a Pixel to an iPhone. I refuse to die because my $800 smart device couldn't get me help that would have otherwise been available. Apple may be a scummy company just like all the other ones but the one thing they do seem to take very seriously is safety. I'm sure other people feel the same way but it doesn't seem like this message is getting to Google.

To be fair, Samsung produces much more reliable phones than Google, especially their S series phones, if you wanted to stay in the Android system. They are also quite good with system updates and security updates -- not the best but top tier by Android standards.

Re: Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

#69

Funny, because I have the opposite problem. My Pixel dials 911 out of random and I always have to race to disconnect the call. Just last night my Pixel Watch started ringing out of random while I was eating dinner and it said it was dialing 911. I saw a phone call pop up on my Pixel 6 phone but fortunately canceled it before it connected. My watch didn't even tell me why it dialed 911, and once I disconnected the cal…

I think a confirmation dialog would defeat the purpose of an auto dial here — you need the auto dial because you have been incapacitated.

Re: Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

#70

It's really absurd how such a problem still exists. Couldn't a separate method be used for emergency calling? For example drop to 3g, don't use the dialer app but a separate "emergency" app.

It would be great if when 911 is dialed the phone dropped into a “black box” state where all unnecessary functionality is suspended to maximize battery and signal. It could alert emergency contacts w/ location pings, start recording voice and video, and go into a heightened security mode to avoid tampering.
Post reply on HN