Android phones across the globe will be used as what?

Google is taking advantage of the vast number of Android smartphones in use throughout the world in order to help alert people of impending earthquakes. It will do so by tapping into the phone’s accelerometer, telling it to transmit data if it detects motion that could be seismic action.

Current earthquake early warning networks use a multitude of sensors embedded in the ground to detect seismic activity and send out an alert a few seconds before the shaking starts on the surface. This new Android-powered network is based on the same idea, using smartphones as the sensors and transmitting an alert with a few seconds’ warning.

Google will begin testing the system in California first, so it can be compared to that state’s current early warning network. The system will then be rolled out to more states and countries around the world starting in 2021.