The double earthquake that Venezuela suffered this Wednesday, Venezuelan users of Android seconds before it occurred. At 6:04 p.m., the same minute that the first of the earthquakes began, an alert notification appeared on Android phones. ‘Near earthquake. You may feel shaky. Estimated initial magnitude of 6.2 approximately 221.8 miles away,’ reads a system alert posted by a user that has gone viral. The first earthquake finally had a magnitude of 7.2. The second, which arrived 39 seconds later, was 7.5.
The origin of that notification, which gave precious seconds to those who received it to leave buildingsis in the system Google Earthquake Alerts. Started operating in 2021 in Greece and New Zealand and, by the end of 2023, it had spread to 98 countriesaccording to a publication by Google Research last July. Until 2025, the system had reported 18,000 earthquakes and sent 790 million alerts to Android phones. If in 2019 only 250 million people had access to earthquake early warning systems, thanks to Android that number has grown to 2.5 billion people.
And how can Google warn, even for a few seconds, of an earthquake? The answer is that all Android users carry a small seismometer on their phone, the accelerometer. This sensor, which detects when the mobile phone is rotated to change the orientation of the screen, can also detect P waveswhich are the first sign of the earthquake, but not the most destructive. Those are the S waveswhich arrive shortly after.
Google was very clever; They use the accelerometers of thousands of Android phones as a global earthquake network, all that data is sent and Google found a way to detect those waves in time and send alerts. https://t.co/hNqgdenN1Z pic.twitter.com/U7VFGxTCQ5
— Enrique (@enriqdev) June 24, 2026
When a phone detects the initial P wave, sends a signal to Google along with an approximate location of the epicenter. So the system Quickly analyze data from numerous phones to confirm that an earthquake is occurring and estimate its location and magnitude. The goal is to alert as many people as possible. before the slower S wave reaches them. The accelerometers on Android phones are not the only source of information for Google’s Earthquake Alerts system, which also receives data from official seismic networks.
How to check if your Android mobile can receive earthquake alerts
To receive the alerts, the mobile phone must be connected to the Internet, either via WiFi or mobile line, and have earthquake and location alerts activated.
For the first case, follow the path Settings > Personal safety and emergencies > Earthquake alerts and check that it is activated. Depending on the manufacturer’s customization layer, the route may vary.
For the location, go to Settings > Location > Use location. The slider must be activated.