As Google continues to launch new products and updates to its existing platforms, it seems that Wear OS is about to get its own earthquake alert, which provides warnings about seismic activity and was previously present only on Android phones.
Indeed, rolling out with Google Play Services version 25.21, the feature will display the earthquake’s estimated magnitude and distance from the epicenter, potentially saving countless lives, especially for users whose cellular models have so far left them without such warnings, per a report by Android Authority on June 13.
Earthquake alert system for wearables
As a reminder, Google launched the earthquake alerts feature for Androids in 2020. It detects earthquakes by aggregating sensor data from millions of phones and then sends a warning to the affected users’ devices, showing the estimated magnitude and distance to the epicenter.
And now, according to the recent update to the Google System Release Notes page, “you’ll get alerts on Wear when an earthquake is expected to cause shaking,” with ‘Wear’ referring to wearables using Wear OS, which ship with the Google Play Services app.
As the Android Authority team explained, they have anticipated the feature’s rollout since the beginning of the year, and its analysis has revealed that the alerts on wearables will show similar information on wearables as on smartphones, allowing users to receive alerts even when they don’t have their phones on them, like during exercise or performing routine tasks.
Meanwhile, another phone-only feature is arriving to wearables. Specifically, the popular multimedia instant messaging platform Snapchat will now be available on the go on Apple Watch, via the watchOS app, after ten years of existence.
Elsewhere, wearables are becoming more advanced, as Hyundai Motors and Kia Robotics LAB released a wearable robot called X-ble Shoulder for industrial workers. Notably, it adds upon the wearer’s upper arm muscle strength and reduces the burden on the upper extremity musculoskeletal system, reducing the risk of injury.
ReadNext
