Anecdotal evidence from social media users suggest that Android phones are more efficient at sending out earthquake alerts than iPhones. Android phones and iPhones both have built-in earthquake detection functionality that can detect tremors before the shock waves hit and then send out notifications to help users take cover. While the smartphone-based earthquake alerts only offer a few seconds of warning before the shaking starts, it still gives people a chance to protect themselves and their loved ones from danger.Though scientists haven't yet figured out how to accurately predict earthquakes, current technology can offer people in earthquake-prone regions a few extra seconds to protect themselves during such emergencies. One such earthquake early warning (EEW) system is ShakeAlert, which was created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in collaboration with the California Geological Survey, California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, and several California universities. It can detect and send out earthquake warnings in California, Oregon, and Washington.During this week's 5.1-magnitude earthquake in Santa Clara County, California, many smartphone users in the region received notifications on their smartphones about the impending disaster before they felt the ground shaking. Dave Burke, Google’s Vice-President of Engineering for Android, tweeted a GIF that showed how Android devices acted as mini seismometers during the earthquake, detecting the tremors before they were felt by people.
Early Earthquake Alerts On Android Devices
Both Android and iPhone users are believed to have received notifications about the earthquake, but many have since posted on social media, claiming that their Android devices pushed out those alerts several seconds before they felt the tremors. On the other hand, those with iPhones seemed to have received the notifications after the tremors already started. Some users with both Android and iOS devices categorically stated that their Android device warned them of the quake a few seconds before it happened, while they did not receive any warnings on their iPhone.
The earthquake warning system in Android devices is based on the Android Earthquake Alerts System, which was launched in 2020. It is a free service that detects earthquakes around the world and alerts Android users before shaking starts. The system works in partnership with ShakeAlert in California, Oregon and Washington to receive data from the latter's seismic sensors and send out alerts based on that data. To detect earthquakes in the rest of the world, Google uses crowdsourced data from Android devices that can detect vibrations using their accelerometers. The company says it collects such data from more than two billion devices globally, and uses that information to figure out whether there's an earthquake happening in a particular area before sending out notifications on Android devices.
Source: Dave Burke/Twitter, kriziaritchelle/Twitter, oohitslexi/Twitter, James Tucker/Twitter