Wear OS will start showing Android’s earthquake alerts on your smartwatch

Ben Schoon | Jun 13 2025 - 7:20 am PT

Earthquake alerts on Android can save lives, and now they’re extending to your wrist with an update bringing the functionality to Wear OS.

Google started rolling out earthquake alerts through Android phones a few years ago. The feature uses the sensors in your smartphone and the many other Android phones around you to detect the early signs of an earthquake – the “P-Wave” – before the more destructive “S-Wave” hits. While it’s not infallible, this system provides a few precious seconds of early warning before an earthquake arrives, and it’s available to large portions of the globe.

That is, assuming your phone is actually nearby.

Presumably, that sort of situation is why Google is now extending Android earthquake alerts over to Wear OS. The company mentions this on its June 2025 changelog for Google Play Services updates. This note was added sometime earlier this week (h/t Android Authority), as it was there when we first covered the changelog earlier this month.

Advertisement - scroll for more content

Safety & Emergency

[Wear] You’ll get alerts on Wear when an earthquake is expected to cause shaking.

As per usual with these Play Services changelogs, the actual feature can take a while to roll out widely. That said, with this seemingly just being an extension of the notification and not an on-device alert system, it may be available sooner than later. Evidence of this was first spotted early this year.