Google Brings Android Emergency Location Service to India via UP

When emergencies unfold, location often becomes the weakest link between a distressed caller and a first responder. Panic, dropped calls, or unclear directions can cost precious minutes. Uttar Pradesh is now attempting to close that gap using Android’s built-in Emergency Location Service (ELS).

The state has become the first in India to operationalise Android Emergency Location Service, integrating real-time caller location directly into its 112 emergency response system. The rollout marks a notable step in how consumer technology is being embedded into public safety infrastructure at scale.

The integration has been executed by Uttar Pradesh Police, with implementation support from Pert Telecom Solutions Pvt Ltd (PertSol), enabling emergency services to automatically receive precise caller location data when a distress call or SMS is made from an Android device.

From Missed Directions to Machine-Assisted Precision

In crisis situations, callers are often unable to communicate their location accurately. Android’s Emergency Location Service is designed to address exactly this gap.

ELS activates automatically when an emergency number, such as 112, is dialled from an Android phone. The system uses signals from GPS, Wi-Fi, and cellular networks to generate an enhanced location, often narrowing accuracy to within 50 metres. This data is transmitted directly to emergency services, even if the call disconnects seconds after it connects.

According to the rollout details, the service supports both calls and SMS, making it relevant for scenarios where voice communication is not possible.

Early Signals from the Pilot Phase

Before its statewide activation, the system underwent a pilot phase in Uttar Pradesh. During this period, ELS supported more than 20 million emergency calls and messages, helping identify caller locations even when calls dropped abruptly.

The location intelligence is powered by Android’s Fused Location Provider, a machine-learning-driven system that selects the best available signals based on the caller’s environment: urban, semi-urban, or remote.

For emergency response teams, this translates into faster dispatch decisions and reduced dependence on verbal location descriptions.

Privacy by Design, Triggered Only in Emergencies

A key concern around location-based services is privacy. ELS is designed to activate only during an emergency call or message and remains dormant otherwise.

The service:

• Requires no additional apps or hardware

• Is free of charge

• Sends location data directly from the handset to emergency services

• Does not store or collect location data with Google

Within Uttar Pradesh’s setup, the UP112 command infrastructure, combined with PertSol’s routing intelligence, receives the caller’s coordinates in real time and routes the case to the appropriate response unit—police, medical, or fire.

What This Means for Emergency Tech in India

Globally, Android Emergency Location Service is active in over 60 countries, where it has been used to reduce response times and improve emergency reach. Uttar Pradesh’s adoption places India on that map, albeit one state at a time.

The rollout highlights a broader shift: consumer platforms increasingly doubling as public infrastructure enablers, especially in high-volume, high-stakes environments like emergency response.

As India continues to modernise its 112 services nationwide, the Uttar Pradesh implementation could serve as a reference point for other states evaluating how to blend mobile OS-level intelligence with government command systems.

For now, the service is live across Uttar Pradesh on Android devices running version 6.0 and above. The larger question is how quickly other states follow and how uniformly such integrations are adopted across India’s fragmented emergency response landscape.

What is clear is that emergency response in India is beginning to move beyond voice-only systems toward data-assisted, location-aware interventions, where seconds and coordinates matter.