A team of researchers from University of California-Berkeley has developed an app that can turn smartphones into a worldwide seismic network that could eventually warn users of impending jolts from a nearby earthquake.

The new app is called MyShake. It can sense an earthquake even when the cell device is being carried in a pocket or a bag. The researchers want users to download the app, in the first instance, to help test and improve its capabilities. The main idea is that recruited phones will be part of a network that not only gathers data but also issues alerts.

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It is now available in Google Play Store, according to NDTV Gadgets. The app runs in the background with little power, so that smartphone's onboard accelerometers can record local shaking any time of the day or night. 

In a paper published in the journal Science Advances, the researchers described the algorithm in the mobile app that analyses a phone's accelerometer data and distinguishes earthquake shaking from normal vibrations, such as walking, dancing or dropping the phone. After that, if it fits the vibrational profile of a quake, relays it and the phone's GPS coordinates to the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, for analysis. 

Smartphones can easily measure movement caused by a quake because they have three built-in accelerometers designed to sense the orientation of the phone for display or gaming. While it has an improved sensitivity for the benefit of gamers smartphone accelerometers, the in-ground seismometers are far less sensitive. They are sensitive enough to record earthquakes above a magnitude 5 within 10 kilometers. The accelerometers lack in sensitivity, they make up for in ubiquity.

MyShake might even give a heads-up in the future. Once the software is known to be trustworthy, it could send early warnings to nearby areas and even provide a countdown to help you find a safe area in time. There is also a plan for an iOS app as well, Engadget reported. The system is only as effective as the number of people using it because a handful of testers would not accomplish much, but it could prove to be a life-saving tool if it really catches on. 

"Finally, and perhaps most importantly, MyShake could deliver alerts in regions that have little in the way of traditional seismic networks. This includes Haiti and Nepal that both had recent devastating earthquakes, and other high hazard regions such as Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mongolia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines," stated in the published study.