Google rolls out air raid alerts feature for Ukraine Android users

Google has announced that Android users in Ukraine will now get air raid alerts on their phones before attacks by Russian forces.

In a blog post on Thursday, the tech giant said it’s working with the Ukrainian government to roll out an air raid alert system for Android phones in the country.

“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,” the company said.

The air raid alert would be adapted from a system built for quickly sending warnings about earthquakes.

“The system leverages our low latency alert mechanism we built for earthquake alerts. The air raid system is supplemental to, and shares the same triggers used for, the country's existing air raid alert systems,” Dave Burke, vice president of engineering for Android, said in a tweet.

He said that the system, called Ukrainian Alarm, will start rolling out on March 11 and will ramp up to target all Android phones in Ukraine over the next few days.

Google has already been highlighting the app on the Google Play Store before the announcement.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, Google scaled back its presence in Russia, including pausing all ad sales and removing Russian state-funded media apps from Google Play in Europe.

“The Russian invasion of Ukraine is both a tragedy and a humanitarian disaster in the making,” Google wrote on March 1st.

The company said it was working to “support people in Ukraine through our products, defend against cybersecurity threats, surface high-quality, reliable information and ensure the safety and security of our colleagues and their families in the region.”