The UK Government has today conducted its first-ever nationwide test of the Emergency Alert system, which sends emergency, government, and public safety notifications to all smartphone users in the event of danger to life.
The Emergency Alert message, which was sent at 3pm today, showed a message on devices accompanied with a loud siren-like sound. The message read: “This is a test of Emergency Alerts, a new UK government service that will warn you if there’s a life-threatening emergency nearby. In a real emergency, follow the instructions in the alert to keep yourself and others safe.”
Emergency Alert will be sent to citizens in the future in the event of severe flooding, fires and extreme weather. The UK Government say Emergency Alert messages will only ever be sent by the emergency services and/or government departments, agencies and public bodies that deal with emergencies.
Emergency Alerts are sent based on the current location of the citizen. The sound and vibration that accompanies the alerts will last for about 10 seconds, even if the device is turned on silent, and will display the message on-screen until it is acknowledged by pressing a button in the pop-up.
By default, Government alerts are turned on, but these warnings can easily be turned off in Settings.
How to turn off Emergency Alerts on iPhone
Emergency Alerts are one of the quickest ways to spread information in the event of an emergency. While the special alerts are only intended to be used in states of emergency, in early 2018 Hawaii was thrown into a frenzy as officials mistakenly sent a ‘ballistic missile threat’ emergency notification to iOS users warning them of an incoming missile.
