Life in wartime Ukraine consists of the frequent wail of air raid sirens forward of Russian artillery shelling. But because the politics swirling round this case continues to warmth up and the risk evaluation expands, Google appears ready to deploy one other in a sequence of responses to the disaster that would save folks’s lives.
Our sister website XDA-Developers is reporting from a teardown of Google Play Services v22.06.15 (by way of APK Mirror) some new code that has appeared in English, Russian, and Ukrainian directories associated to one thing known as an “Air Raid Warning Details Preference Key.”
User-facing prompts clarify that the Government of Ukraine — indicating Google is simply engaged on this characteristic for that area for now — is offering air raid alert data with notifications supposed to exit earlier than an anticipated shelling and after an alert is canceled. Google makes use of approximate person location knowledge to find out who and when to ship alerts to.
Air raid notifications might learn like this:
The Government of Ukraine issued an alert for at . Take shelter instantly. Tap to alter settings.The Government of Ukraine canceled the alert for at . Tap to alter settings.
Play companies are a alternative vector to ship such a brand new characteristic as many Android customers have gotten appless COVID-19 contact tracing and extra delicate interface modifications by means of frequent, however often-unnoticed updates. If your cellphone (as with most in Ukraine) got here out of the field and booted up a Google login course of, you’ve gotten Google Mobile Services and, thus, you’ve gotten Google Play companies.
Air raid warnings haven’t formally rolled out in any capability so far as we’re conscious and inactive options present in APK teardowns do not at all times go public. But if the battle continues on at this price, these alerts cannot come quickly sufficient.
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