Emergency Dialing Maintenance Update Coming to Nexus 6 and Moto X (Updated)

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According to Motorola, a maintenance release (update) is schedule to go live for the Nexus 6, Moto X (2nd gen), and Moto X (1st gen) some time in the very near future (Edit:  DROID Turbo, Ultra, and Moto X Pro as well). Motorola posted a document detailing the update this morning, noting that you should apply this update “as soon as possible,” but that it corrects an issue that will probably only happen under “very rare” circumstances. 

The update fixes a situation where your phone is encrypted with a “PIN to start” setup, yet will not allow audio to pass through both ways during an emergency call. Motorola explains it as audio going only in one direction, with the phone user able to hear a dispatcher, but the dispatcher not able to hear the phone user.

Until the update hits your phone, Motorola offers the following solution:

  • Keep your phone powered on. Once the phone is fully powered on, this situation does not happen.
  • If you must power your phone off regularly, disable “PIN to start” until you have applied the update.
  • If you must power on your phone to place an emergency call and do have PIN-to-start enabled, enter the start PIN and allow the phone to boot completely before placing the call.

To see the full details of the issue, be sure to hit up the source link below.

Update:  Well, it looks like Motorola pulled the MR update page. Here is the full text—

Emergency Dialing Maintenance Release

Published 05/05/2015 12:38 PM
Updated 05/05/2015 12:38 PM

Emergency Dialing Maintenance Release

Motorola recommends applying the maintenance release software update as soon as possible. This update corrects an issue that could in very rare and specific circumstances compromise emergency dialing on the following devices:

  • Moto X (1st Gen.)
  • Moto X (2nd Gen.)
  • Nexus 6
  • Moto Pro

This situation happens only in the following conditions:

  • The phone is encrypted, with “PIN to start” enabled (note that this is the PIN entered on an encrypted phone when it is powered on and boots up, not the PIN or pattern often entered to bypass the screen lock on a phone that is already powered on).
  • The phone is fully powered off and the user must power it on (not just wake it) to place an emergency call.
  • Upon boot-up, the user selects the emergency dial option that is presented before the boot PIN is entered, rather than allowing the phone to boot completely before placing the emergency call.

In this situation, the call will be connected, but with audio only in one direction. The phone user will be able to hear the dispatcher, but the dispatcher will not be able to hear the phone user.

Users awaiting the MR can take the following steps to ensure that emergency dialing is not compromised in the meantime:

  • Keep your phone powered on. Once the phone is fully powered on, this situation does not happen.
  • If you must power your phone off regularly, disable “PIN to start” until you have applied the update.
  • If you must power on your phone to place an emergency call and do have PIN-to-start enabled, enter the start PIN and allow the phone to boot completely before placing the call.

The common pre-PIN and pre-pattern emergency dial option on the screen lock is not affected. Most people do not power their phones off regularly, and only a small minority use encryption and PIN-to-start, so the chance of a user encountering this situation is remote. However, because it could in theory compromise emergency dialing, we felt it was important to address as soon as possible.

Instructions on how to check encryption and PIN-to-start settings are here. If you have questions, contact Motorola customer service at www.motorola.com/support.

Update 2:  Motorola updated the page and re-posted it with some fixes. The full device list that this update will rollout to is the Moto X (1st gen) and (2nd gen), Nexus 6, DROID Turbo, DROID Ultra, and Moto X Pro.

Via:  Motorola
Cheers Andy!

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