Nov 14, 2021

Why did Google make it impossibly easy for my 2 year old to call 911?

Ever since I updated to Android 12 about a week ago. Since then, my 2 year old has grabbed my phone 4 times when I wasn't looking. Not a big deal in the past where she would just hit random numbers trying to unlock my phone. But 4 out of these 4 times she has called 911. With Android 12, she just finds the pretty emergency button and then swipe the red swipe and then she has a dispatcher on the phone. Previously she would have had to actually dial 911. Why not give users a choice? I have no idea what to do at this point.

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All Replies (4)

Brandon Hatfield

I'm just a user like you who helps out where he can.

Nov 14, 2021

This change was to make it easier for people to get help during an emergency. This seems like a parenting issue rather than a problem with the phone but you can send feedback to the team with this method.

https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/6398243?hl=en

Mama Bear 4

Original Poster

Nov 15, 2021

Mr. Judgemental, you clearly don't have a 2 year old. I have a 4 year old, I can tell him to not call the emergency and he understands, but I'm sure there are many 4 year olds that probably wouldn't listen and do it anyway. While my 2 year old is smart enough to press and swipe some pretty buttons she doesn't understand what she's doing and doesn't understand when i explain it to her why it's bad. There are many other parents on different forums with a 2 year old that have been having the same issue with this new feature. As it's starting to just roll out, I'm sure there will be more frustrated parents.

I chose Android because of customization. Why not give the user a choice between a swipe and having to dial like in Android 11? Android 12 is just turning into Apple with less and less user customization.

Brandon Hatfield

I'm just a user like you who helps out where he can.

Nov 15, 2021

I have three children that are past 2 now and take care of my 2-year-old niece frequently. I'm sorry to have offended you. Tell all the other parents on the other forums to submit feedback as I suggested.

Mama Bear 4

Original Poster

Nov 15, 2021

If you have suggestions on how to better parent my child to avoid this issue, please go ahead.

I actually would love helpful parenting advice from an experienced parent vs judgmental remarks like "sounds like a parenting issue." If you don't want to offend, don't say offensive comments. I'm usually one to forgive and give the benefit of the doubt to ignorant comments that many would get offended by, but I'm struggling to see how your comment is anything but directly offensive. Hope we can all be better moving forward in our interactions with others online or off.

Last edited Nov 15, 2021