Android’s new life-saving upgrade feels like something we should have had forever

(Image credit: Google)

Google has launched a new Android Emergency Live Video feature
This allows you to show responders a live feed from your phone's camera during an emergency
Currently it's only available in the US and parts of Germany and Mexico, but it may soon launch elsewhere

If you’ve got an Android phone, then you may now have access to a feature that could one day save your life – or that of a loved one, as Google is rolling out what it calls Android Emergency Live Video.

This feature allows you to share live video from your phone's camera during an emergency call or text exchange. So if, for example, there’s a car accident or a medical emergency and you’re speaking to the emergency services, they’ll be able to send a request to view live video from your phone.

You can accept the request with a single tap, the stream is encrypted so it’s secure, and you can choose to stop sharing the video at any time.

But it sounds like a potentially very useful feature, allowing the emergency responder to get a better sense for the situation, and potentially better guide you through life-saving steps such as CPR.

A great idea with limited availability

It feels like an obvious idea – so much so that I’m surprised we haven’t seen this before, but better late than never.

Android Emergency Live Video is supported on Android phones running Android 8 and above with Google Play Services, so that should be most of them, and there’s no setup required.

That said, right now it only works in the US, plus select regions of Germany and Mexico. However, Google says it’s “closely working with public safety organizations around the world to expand this capability to more regions.” So hopefully we’ll see this in more places soon.

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James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.

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