macReports

Apple iOS Mac OS X Reports , Help and News

  • How to
  • News
  • Not working?
  • Tips and Tricks
  • Guides
You are here: Home / Guides / How to Enable Emergency and Government Alerts on your iPhone

How to Enable Emergency and Government Alerts on your iPhone

Last updated on April 1, 2020 By Serhat Kurt Leave a Comment

This article explains how you can turn on emergency and government alerts on your iPhone when you may be in harm’s way. Turning this on will enable you to stay aware of emergencies and warnings.

Emergency alert

2018 Hawaii (false) missile alert

Your country, state or local authorities may issue various alerts in the event of an emergency such as a natural disaster. These officials want to provide the public with life-saving information quickly. These alerts may include:

  • AMBER alerts (when a missing child is reported).
  • Public Safety Alerts.
  • Active shooter alerts.
  • Alerts for extreme conditions such as hurricanes etc.
  • Presidential alerts.
  • And other critical alerts.

If you want to, these warnings can be sent to your iPhone. When you enable this feature, you will get these alerts on your iPhone. These alerts will look like a regular text message with a distinct sound (similar to an alarm) and vibration to differentiate from a text message.

When you turn this on, there is no any type of payment, there is no subscription and there is no need to download any app. Wireless carriers offer this for free. And you can turn it off if wanted, any time you want with the steps below.

See also: Notifications not working?

Emergency alerts

Here is how:

  • On your iPhone, tap Settings.
  • Tap Notifications.
  • Scroll down and find the Government Alerts section.
  • You will see three options: “AMBER Alerts,” “Emergency Alerts,” and “Public Safety Alerts.” Turn on any one of them you would like.

Government alerts

So, you turn this on and you are wondering what you should do when you receive an emergency message? The answer is simple. The alert will include what you should do. Follow the action advised by the alert. You may also want to contact your local authorities.

See also: Message alerts not working?

Test alerts

There are also other alert types which are just tests. These messages will clearly say “test”. This feature is disabled by default. However, if you want to receive these alerts, here is how:

Test emergency alerts

  • Turn on test alerts:
    1. On your iPhone, open the Phone app.
    2. Tap the Keypad tab.
    3. Press: *5005*25371#Test alerts
    4. Tap the green phone icon. You will get a message saying “test alerts enabled”:

Test alerts enabled

  • Turn off test alerts:
    1. If you receive too many test alerts, you may want to turn it off.
    2. Again open the Phone app and enter: *5005*25370# and tap the phone icon. Again you will receive a message saying “test alerts disabled”.

See also: Notifications Disappearing From Lock Screen?

Other notes:

  • When you enable Do Not Disturb, emergency alerts won’t be silenced, unlike the other messages you may receive.
  • You cannot customize the alert sounds.
  • These alerts are geographically targeted.
  • These alerts will not interrupt your phone calls.

Filed Under: Guides Tagged With: Alerts, Emergency

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Follow us

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Got a tip for us? Email us.

Latest Posts

iPhone Won’t Send Pictures to Android, Fix

iPad Air Blank Screen Issue: Free Repairs

Where Do Apple Watch Screenshots Go?

How to Erase your Device Remotely using Find My

How to Use Recovery Mode with your iPhone or iPad

Pages

  • About macReports
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Use

Tags

AirPods Apple Car Apple Company Apple ID Apple Music Apple Pay Apple TV Apple Watch Apps App Store Backup Black Screen Bluetooth Catalina FaceTime iCloud iMessage iMessages iMovie iOS iOS 14 iPad iPhone iTunes Keyboard Mac Mac Battery MacBook macOS macOS Big Sur Mail Mail App Messages Music Notifications PDF Photos Safari screenshot Siri Spotlight Search Update Wi-Fi Windows YouTube

Search macReports

Categories:

  • Guides
  • How to
  • News
  • Not working?
  • Tips and Tricks

About macReports:

This website is founded by Serhat Kurt. He worked as a Senior Technology Director. He holds a doctoral degree (or doctorate) from the University of Illinois at Urbana / Champaign and a master’s degree from Purdue University.

Stacey Butler

Stacey Butler is a tech writer at macReports covering news, how-tos, and user guides. She is a longtime Mac and iPhone user and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

 

This website is not affiliated with Apple.

Copyright © 2021 / macReports

This website uses cookies. By navigating around this site you consent to cookies being stored on your machine.Accept