Overview

• The Science report finds Android devices captured over 11,000 earthquakes from 2021 to 2024 with accuracy comparable to established seismic networks
• The Android Earthquake Alerts system now covers 2.3 billion users across 98 countries and records an average of 312 quake detections per month
• For earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or higher, the network issues about 60 alerts monthly, reaching some 18 million people with seconds to tens of seconds of warning
• As of March 2024 the system logged 1,279 alert-triggering events with only three false positives, and ongoing algorithm updates are aimed at cutting false alarms and speeding warnings
• By using phone accelerometers to detect P and S waves and sending coarse location data to Google servers, the crowdsourced network supplements national early-warning infrastructures