The emergency alerts system is a way for the Government to notify people of immediate dangers or vital advice in their area, by sending out millions of messages to people’s mobile devices. However, you can opt out of getting these messages if you’d prefer not to get them.
Millions of people received one of these alerts last week, as the Government sent out messages to warn people of the national dangers of wildfires. People receiving the message were told to “not undertake any activity that could start a fire, including disposable barbecues, firepits, garden incinerators or fireworks”.
There has been some criticism that this use of the alerts system was excessive and unnecessary. The emergency alerts will override if you have your phone set to silent or do not disturb, and your device will make a loud alarm sound when you get the message.
Opting out of emergency alerts
However, you can turn off the alerts so you don’t get them. The Government advice is to keep them turned on as they provide “life-saving information”.
But if you don’t want to get these messages, you can turn them off in your device’s settings.
Other mobile phones and tablets
For other devices, the emergency alerts settings may have one of a variety of names. It could something like ‘Wireless emergency alerts’ or ‘Emergency broadcasts’.
You can usually find this in your settings in one of these ways:
- ‘Message’, then ‘Message settings’, then ‘Wireless emergency alerts’, then ‘Alert’
- ‘Settings’, then ‘Sounds’, then ‘Advanced’, then ‘Emergency broadcasts’
- Settings’, then ‘General settings’, then ‘Emergency alerts’
Once you have found the right option, turn off ‘Severe alerts’, ‘Extreme alerts’ and ‘Test alerts’.
