- Android earthquake alerts develop to wear an operating system
- The functionality is supported on phones in 98 countries
- It is included in the last update of Google Play services
For several years now, Android phones have been able to warn you of an imminent earthquake, so you have a few minutes to prepare and those around you – and the functionality is finally developing to wear smart bone watches.
According to the version of June 2025 for Google Play Services (via Android Authority), you will now receive “wear alerts when an earthquake should cause tremors”. Google Play Services is a separate Android update and must be applied to your phone and mobile automatically in the coming days.
This makes warnings of earthquakes much more useful for bone owners, especially those who like to leave their phones in pockets and bags (or who have watches with cellular connections, and leave their phones completely).
Google has not officially said anything about the new feature, but probably all the smart watches that are currently obtaining updates to the operating system will also be eligible to obtain the warning functionality of early earthquake.
How does it work
We don’t know exactly what it will look like about the best Android watches, but we know how it works on phones. Google obtains its data from seismic sensor reports, as well as anonymous accelerometers from billions of Android phones.
The earthquakes expected with a magnitude of 4.5 or more trigger an alert: you will receive the estimated scale and the distance to the epicenter, which appear on the screen, and you can press the alert for more information.
If important tremors are expected, the alert will ignore any volume and will not disturb the settings on your phone and play a strong sound. You will receive advice on the screen on the best way to protect yourself from the upcoming earthquake.
The Android Earthquake Alerts system is currently active in 98 different countries in the world, and you can check the list here. On pixel phones, alert settings can be found under Security and emergency in the settings.
