Emergency calls can be stressful, and in some instances, it's easier to show than tell what’s going wrong. That’s why Apple shipped an emergency live-video option with iOS 18 last year, and why Google is now rolling out its own Emergency Live Video feature for Android phones to assist in reporting an emergency or getting real-time help with such critical tasks as CPR. 

Google’s implementation of the concept, like Apple’s, lets an emergency-response dispatcher respond to a call or text chat by sending an invitation for a video call to your phone, which you can accept with one tap of the screen. 

(Credit: Google)

That invitation includes an advisory that the stream could be recorded. An advance copy of Google’s announcement underscores that video chat is “encrypted by default” and that you can exit it whenever you want.

Google requires emergency-response departments to apply to join this program, but its public-facing explanation does not list the requirements involved. 

Recommended by Our Editors

Adobe Reverses Decision to Shut Down Animate After Backlash

Adobe Is Killing Its Popular 2D Animation Software Next Month

For what it’s worth, a two-page Apple document specifies that these agencies must meet “Apple’s integration, security, and testing requirements,” including storing shared media “only in an encrypted form” and deleting it no more than 90 days later unless laws require otherwise. 

Google is coming to this idea later than Apple, but it's bringing it to more phones. Where Apple’s emergency-video feature only works on the iPhone 14 and up, Google says this will work on phones running operating systems as old as 2018’s Android 8 with Google Play Services enabled.

We first heard about Google launching this feature in September when Android Authority noticed references to “Share live video” and “Emergency services will use your camera to view this emergency” in the code for a beta version of a Google Play Services release.