Police forces across the UK have warned that a new feature on some Android phones is plaguing switchboards with inadvertent “silent” 999 calls.
The Emergency SOS feature calls when a side button is pressed repeatedly.
Police chiefs have said they think it is part of the reason for record numbers of 999 calls.
Google, which develops the most widely used Android phone software, says it expects manufacturers to issue updates to address the problem.
The National Police Chiefs Council said the new update “added a new SOS emergency function for devices to call 999 through the power button being pressed five times or more”.
“Nationally, all emergency services are currently experiencing record high 999 call volumes. There’s a few reasons for this, but one we think is having a significant impact is an update to Android smartphones.”
