This was discussed back in November. Not saying whether the functionality should be included, but getting this specific app to work wouldn't be easy because it needs special privileges to work. They might be able to get it to work by expanding the compatibility layer, but idk. Probably would require someone in the community to step up and make it happen either by contributing to the compatibility layer or making a new app.

https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/1199-car-crash-detection

    unwat Thanks for sharing that link! I didn't know it had been discussed before, very helpful. Shame to hear it probably requires tweaking the compat later, as that's WAY beyond my programming ability.

    hemlockiv It's specifically the implementation of location and video capture/sharing that are currently missing. I haven't tried decompiling the Personal Safety APK, but the biggest privilege-related issue might be video capture while the phone is locked and screen is off.

    There probably isn't much value for VIDEO capture, since more than likely, the phone will be in somebody's pocket or, in the case of a women, purse. AUDIO however, would be a very useful feature to capture, and if I'm not mistaken, can be done fairly easily without unlocking the device.

      abcZ There probably isn't much value for VIDEO capture, since more than likely, the phone will be in somebody's pocket or, in the case of a women, purse. AUDIO however, would be a very useful feature to capture, and if I'm not mistaken, can be done fairly easily without unlocking the device.

      You're correct that audio is easy to do with 3rd party apps.

      The value of the SOS video capture feature is, for example, during a police traffic stop where the user's phone is already mounted on the dashboard (e.g. for navigation). Unfortunately, recording the police is a reasonable safety precaution to take nowadays.

        hemlockiv Its not legal to mount your phone high enough that it would get a shot over the dashboard since it obstructs your view. For things like this, I'd strongly recommend a dedicated dashcam.

          4 months later

          Are there any plans to keep developing this? I live in a dangerous part of town and I love grapheneos, but I still can't recommend it to friends and family because of this one issue of personal safety not working, since it has personally saved the life of a close friend of mine.

            6 months later

            rawpie Since previous discussion indicates that the Appcompat layer would need to be expanded, it's unlikely that this will continue in the foreseeable future, unless you or an experienced programmer you know is willing to undertake the project :/

            • [deleted]

            • Edited

            Blastoidea The personal security application is preferred, but all information is end-to-end encrypted. It's a really great app because when you have a car accident or something, it calls the emergency services and sends them your position and medical information, it films... My daughter uses this app when she goes for a run: she programs it so that 1 hour after her departure, the app rings and asks her if everything's okay, and if there's no answer 50 seconds later, it films, calls the emergency services, sends the location... In short, it's absolutely indispensable for my family.

            a month later

            So if that PersonalSafety app from google is fixed and doesn't crash anymore on gOS, it means for being able to use it in an emergency case, one has to have their services running on its dailydriver profile ?

            Or would it be some workaround like, idk : double tap the back (smart gesture shits) to switch to a non-password userprofile that runs services, and then do the 5 powerbutton-taps ?

            By the way, the feature of calling emergency services by pressing the power button five times repeatedly does work. At least it did for me. I'm located in Norway.

            Just an FYI if people didn't know this. I know it's not a replacement for the Personal Safety app?

            Did anyone open a Github issue about this?

              My family recently had in incident where a loved one inadvertently triggered the SOS and then turned off the phone before a location could be sent. Obviously the situation got me thinking.
              My compromise was to set up the emergency functionality on my Garmin watch. That way its there but I control it.

              Relaks Does it ask for some dialing to be redirected to the good sub-team or you get straight to someone listnening, even without speaking to the agent at first?

              edit : Also, were play services running on the profile emiting the sos ? To know whether it's needed or not

                graphenediscoverer4 It wasn't emitting any SOS. I accidentally pressed the power button five times and a call was initiated with an English voice telling me I would be redirected to the emergency services shortly. I hung up before it actually did. Location: Norway. Google Personal Safety on PixelOS in Norwegian is by default set to 112 (police). I had not nor installed Google Personal Safety before. I was using GrapheneOS. That's all I know.

                I will likely be calling the emergency services manually during an emergency so that I can reach the correct number without having to be redirected.

                I live in an area of the country where I know for sure that the operators get an immediate fix on my location if I have to call the emergency services. This has been part of my work so I know this for sure. I don't how the situation is in other countries. I do not have any friends so wouldn't benefit from GPS sharing from my phone.

                This is my personal reflection so please do not take this as me arguing against you using the Personal Safety app. I'm seeing some threads already on this topic so it might be worth opening a Github issue as a feature request. I'm not sure how much work would need to be put into this from the developers' side, if they deem it as a feature they see as relevant to implement.

                  Relaks I had not nor installed Google Personal Safety before. I was using GrapheneOS. That's all I know.

                  Thank you! I just wanted to know whether the sandboxed play services (you know the app downloaded from the gOS app-base called "Apps") were running on the current profile or not. I'm afraid that a userprofile needs it to be able to emit an SOS..

                  Also was the current profile using english language in its settings at that time ? To know whether the english voice is part of AOSP, or part of some google services being the intermediary between enduser and local-speaking emergency services...

                    graphenediscoverer4 I'm pretty sure I had the system language set to English US. But I'm not going to test it with a different system language, in case I'm unable to abort it before I'm redirected to the emergency services. 😊

                    This is a bit of a side-track, but I just realized I can change the emergency phone number by going to Android settings > Safety & emergency > Call for help. I thought it was only doable with the Personal Safety app. I feel so stupid now.

                      4 months later

                      It needs android.permission.MODIFY_PHONE_STATE which can only be granted to system apps.
                      +1 from me for making this app work though.

                      5 months later

                      Has there been any progress on either making the Google safety app compatible with grapheneOS, or developing an alternative?