Does Emergency SOS Turn On Mic?

AtriumCompound

When emergency SOS is activated in grapheneos, does it automatically turn on the mic if the mic is disabled?

Welteam

I don't know and I didn't find anything on the Goggle Support page about the subject but you can easily check with a test.

Text a friend to ask him to help with the test.
Put his number as the emergency contact in the emergency sos options
Activate the emergency sos while your phone is unlocked
Check the mic toggle and try talking to him
Terminate the call and ask him if he heard anything

BHydden

Welteam I can't remember where I heard it, but I believe the phone acts differently depending on whether you have a nornal number in that field or an emergency services number.

graphenediscoverer4

Welteam I don't know and I didn't find anything on the Goggle Support page about the subject but you can easily check with a test.
Text a friend to ask him to help with the test.
Put his number as the emergency contact in the emergency sos options
Activate the emergency sos while your phone is unlocked
Check the mic toggle and try talking to him
Terminate the call and ask him if he heard anything

Has anyone tested this since then?

Welteam

BHydden The only difference I know of is that emergency SOS doesn't work if the phone is locked and you have a custom number. This is expected since this works like any other phone call and you can't phone any non emergency number from the lock screen

AtriumCompound

Welteam Makes sense. Reading through the privacy settings I also found this bit:

Microphone access: For apps and services. if this setting is off, microphone data may still be shared when you call an emergency number.

The wording is a little strange, but it seems to confirm that the microphone will be turned on for emergency SOS.

Murcielago

If the microphone is deactivated, a pop-up window "Unblock Device Microphone" with the options "unblock" and "cancel" appears when the emergency call is initiated (as with a normal call).

If the screen is locked, it must also be unlocked with PIN/biometrics in order to unblock the microphone via the above-mentioned dialog.

Relaks

Murcielago If the screen is locked, it must also be unlocked with PIN/biometrics in order to unblock

May I ask how you know this? Has anyone confirmed this? I was under the impression that emergency calls bypassed the microphone block without needing authentication.

Murcielago

Relaks

I have tested it. Instead of the emergency number, I have stored a user-defined number.

Relaks

Murcielago Thank you. Then I will always have the microphone enabled.

Murcielago

Relaks

Just to clarify: I did not test it with a real emergency number but replaced it (in the settings mentioned) with an individual cell phone number for the test.

graphenediscoverer4

Relaks Then I will always have the microphone enabled.

I noticed that gOS (or native android idk) put the old Tasker app feature of deactivating BT/wifi after N minutes if it was not paired to anything within that duration. Convenient, since Tasker needs root access and it's not compatible with gOS.

So could the feature also be extended to deactivate at least cam/mic, with the condition being "when using this(or these) wifi network" ? Also, all sensors except fingerprint reader would be useful as well, in case someone installs an app containing ads, and forget to dive in its permissions. I noticed they were throwing ads as soon as the phone is lifted (accelerometer/gyro/light sensor triggered)

Relaks

graphenediscoverer4 I'm sorry, but what on Earth does this have to do with emergency SOS? This is supposed to save someone from dying, how?

graphenediscoverer4

Relaks well the conclusion of this thread is : in case where the emergency feature is needed, that is, "i'm under moral pressure or i'm physically too weak against my opps, and must hide that I'm dialing authorities, so I will only do 5 powerbutton taps and hope that someone will listen on at my urgent situation", I need to always have the mic quicksetting activated. (because : see above, several additional taps are needed, with phone being stared at, if initially the mic was OFF)

Which then defeat the privacy purpose of having such feature (mic software-based deactivation). So I was wondering whether it'd be a quickie for gOS devs to check what the Tasker app already did for various user cases, which is de/activate some sensor when connected/leaving a particular network. It would allow gOS users to, e.g, choose to deactivate mic and cam as soon as they reach some network/location considered as safe. To have private conversations with their relatives.

And then, in the wild, even though conversations (or physically un-hidden camera sensors) may still leak to device apps, still keep the mic sensor ON, in case SOS needs to be emited.

Edit : could also be calendar-event triggered maybe...