Jimmy Westenberg / Android Authority
TL;DR
- A Pixel alert went out today warning users of a storm in the Philippines.
- However, many of those users lived nowhere near the area.
- This is clearly a glitch of some sort, but Google hasn’t explained it yet.
Google’s At A Glance widget is incredibly useful. Not only does it give you need-to-know information in an easy-to-read format, but it also alerts you about important events. For example, today, it sent out a warning to Pixel phone users about a dangerous storm coming to the Philippines.
The only problem, though, is that most people receiving this Pixel alert did not live anywhere near the Philippines. Our own Eric Zeman found the alert this morning, and he lives in New Jersey.
As it turns out, he wasn’t alone. There are a ton of posts in this Reddit thread from Pixel phone users talking about getting the alert. Check out Eric’s version below:
Eric’s example matches the descriptions of the other Pixel alerts discussed in the Reddit thread.
Obviously, if you saw this alert yourself and don’t live near the Philippines, you have nothing to worry about. The storm likely isn’t headed your way. It is slightly concerning, though, that this alert went out on such a large scale.
We reached out to Google to get a statement on this. Hopefully, the company will issue an explanation soon. Most importantly, it can hopefully explain what precautions it will take to prevent this from happening in the future.
