Emergency Alerts are messages sent out by the state and local authorities to provide important information about emergencies (i.e., weather, AMBER-related alerts) to those affected. You can quickly receive these alerts via iPhone and Android devices. However, certain users may have difficulty reading these warnings.
We’ve spent the time to develop guidelines for you to look into what is included under emergency alerts, the best way to look up emergency alerts on an iPhone, and methods to turn them off when not in use.
What Comes Under Emergency Alerts?
Typically, five types of alerts are included in the umbrella of emergency alerts.
- AMBER alerts.
- Public security alerts.
- Weather alerts.
- Life or safety at risk.
Important message from an official of a regional or national government.
Turn Government Alerts on or off
By default, the Government Alerts feature is enabled for your device.2 If you get an alert from the government and hear a specific sound similar to an alarm. If you’d like to turn the alerts off or on, Follow these steps:
Go to Settings > Notifications.
Scroll down from the end to the bottom.
In the section, Government Alerts switch the alert type off or off.3
Government Alerts are available when using SIM cards from a compatible carrier. For more details, contact your carrier.
In certain countries or regions, it is possible that you will not be able to deactivate Government Alerts.
Select to receive Emergency Test Alerts from the United States
If your iPhone is connected to a provider in the United States, using the U.S. SIM, or while traveling in the U.S.–you can turn on Emergency Alerts for testing. The default setting is shut off. If you get this kind of alert, you’ll hear a noise similar to alarms, and an alert will inform you that it’s an attempt to test.
Government test alerts are accessible on U.S. carriers, including Puerto Rico. The local government is the sole authority for the content and frequency of the alerts. You can turn off this feature at any time by following these steps.
- If you’re using iOS 15.4 or later
- For turning Test Alerts off or off:
- Check that your iPhone is running the latest version of iOS (iOS 15.6 or later).
- Go to Settings > Notifications.
- Test Alerts can be turned either on or off.
- If you’re running iOS 15.3 or older versions, you’re in the right place.
Turn Test Alerts off:
- Open the Phone app and tap Keypad.
- Enter 500525371#, then tap the call button. The caller will receive an alert saying, “Test alerts enabled.”
- To disable Test Alerts:
- Open the Phone app and tap Keypad.
- Enter 500525370#, then press the call button. You’ll receive an alert that reads, “Test alerts disabled.”
Muting Emergency Alerts on iPhone
We have a solution in case you don’t want to be left out of emergencies but don’t like the loud sound. You can swiftly turn off these warnings on your device using these steps.
- Start Settings from your iPhone.
- Go to “Notifications.”
- Scroll down until you are in the “Government Alerts” section.
- Select “Emergency Alerts” and toggle off the option to deliver consistently.
Summary
In this article on how to view emergency alerts on your iPhone, we’ve looked into various emergency alerts typically received by mobile devices. We have also explored different ways to view these alerts displayed on the iPhone and how to disable them on your device if they are not required.
I hope one of these techniques works for you, and you can easily access the emergency warnings on your smartphone without much hassle and plan your schedule by the warnings.