How to Receive Emergency Alerts on your Smart Phone

set emergency alerts on your smartphone

Posted By: admin March 18, 2019

Most smart phones today have an option to receive Emergency Alerts and Amber Alerts, but older cell phones may not have this option.   If you’ve owned your phone for awhile, you have likely received one of these alerts if they are enabled.  If you plan on using your phone to wake you during an emergency alert, make sure you have the alerts enabled and the volume for alerts turned on while you sleep.

What Emergency Alerts are sent to my phone?

In 2012, the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) system was activated, and alerts were sent to people’s phones without any additional apps or subscriptions needed. 

The WEA sends out Extreme Weather and other Threatening Emergencies, Amber Alerts, and Presidential Alerts during a National Emergency.

How to turn on Emergency Alerts- Iphone

  • Open Settings on your Iphone
  • Tap on Notifications
  • Scroll Down to the very Bottom of the Screen
  • Under Government Alerts, make sure Emergency Alerts are Turned On

How to Turn On Emergency Alerts- Android

Enabling Emergency Alerts is different on some android phones.  I will tell you how I did it on my Galaxy:

  • Open Settings
  • Tap on Messages
  • Tap on Emergency Alerts
  • You can Turn On/Off Extreme Alerts, Severe Alerts, and Amber Alerts.  Turning On/Off Presidential Alerts is not an option.

If the guide above does not work for your android, search your settings for “Cell Broadcasts”, “Emergency”, or in your notifications to see if you can find them there.  If that doesn’t work, go here, and here for more information that may help.

Difference between Extreme Alerts and Severe Alerts on Android

If you are wondering what the difference is between Severe and Extreme alerts when deciding what to turn on/off, according to weather.gov, an Extreme Alert may consist of:

  • Tsunami Warning
  • Tornado Warning
  • Extreme Wind Warning
  • Hurricane Warning
  • Typhoon Warning

A Severe Alert may Consists of:

  • Storm Surge Warning
  • Snow Squall Warning
  • Flash Flood Warning
  • Dust Storm Warning

Conclusion

If you would like a backup option to receive emergency weather alerts, you can consider purchasing a NOAA weather radio! Thanks for reading!