Emergency alerts to your phone

[TheFirstOfHerName]

From April, the government will be able to send emergency alerts to our mobile phones.

www.gov.uk/alerts

A siren will go off, even if your phone is on silent. You won't be able to do anything else on your phone until you turn it off. They plan to test this on 23 April.

I understand the reasons why this can be helpful, and in areas where people need to suddenly evacuate due to wildfires, earthquakes, tornadoes etc it could save lives.

However, personally I don't want it, and have disabled it on my phone.

1. Of the emergencies I might experience, I'm not sure I'd want to be alerted to any of them via this method. If a flood or storm is imminent, I'll find out through the usual channels. If a nuclear missile is heading my way, having a few minutes' warning will not help.

1. This system is being run / overseen by the UK government, and my trust in them has been somewhat eroded over the past few years.

1. I have an anxiety disorder (reasonably well managed with combination of medication and other methods) and I think the cost to my anxiety levels of having my phone suddenly sirenning at me outweighs the negligible probability of this system saving my life.

If you are the kind of calm, resilient person who could have these alarms going off and it not completely throw you, then great.

[Nimbostratus100]

I think it is a good idea

Putin is a deranged, deluded psycho. I have faith that he has enough reasonable people around him not to bomb Nato countries, but you can never be 100% sure

Plus terrorism, plus tsunamis, plus meteorite fall

Why would you not want to know immediately if you need to take shelter or move to higher ground?

[TheFirstOfHerName]

As I said, for people who might need to evacuate due to wildfires, earthquakes, tornadoes etc it could be useful and potentially save lives.

I live inland, at the top of a hill.

Re: Putin... I don't have access to a bunker and I don't want to re-enact Where the Wind Blows.

[girlladywoman]

It's good there is an option to turn it off

[TheFirstOfHerName]

I hope they manage to publicise the test alert fairly widely ahead of time. I think there are some people (particularly the more vulnerable) who could be scared or distressed by it if they're not forewarned.

[girlladywoman]

I thought the exact same thing and literally forwarded the news article about it to my family group chat about ten mins ago and said sending this so none of you get a shock (mainly for my parents)

[Messyplayallday]

We have this in the US where I am and it alerts when a child is missing including a car description and plate if needed. Also if vulnerable people are missing eg elderly with dementia or similar. Other alerts might go off such as weather warnings and fire tracking (I live near yearly forest fires, we have snow and avalanches that sometimes come close to roads and also last few years horrifically hot summer).
It only notifies in our specific area though, not the whole of our state so it’s relevant and not continuous.

Its a good system here so hopefully it’ll work well in the UK too

[Ponderingwindow]

we already have this where I live. We have tornadoes. People do have the option of opting out, but I’m not sure I agree with that. First responders lives are at higher risk when people don’t need warnings and take basic safety measures. If a shelter order or evacuation order isn’t heard or is blatantly ignored, the government talks a big game about leaving those people to fend for themselves, but they always try to save them anyway.

[dudsville]

The option to turn it off means there's choice. I think it's a good idea, but i understand the anxiety it can induce. I was traveling in a county last year that had this. I didn't know it. I went into a minor tailspin when my phone pinged to let me know there was a sought after criminal in my area and gave a descriptionof them and their car. I later learned the system was also used to make the public aware to look out for a person with dementia. On the other hand i was holidaying in an isolated cottage in another country a few years back. We were cut off and not following the news. We were shocked when we got to the airport and learned there were raging fires. Although we were not at risk it's something that could possibly have affected us and it would have been good to know.

[TheFirstOfHerName]

@Messyplayallday

We have this in the US where I am and it alerts when a child is missing including a car description and plate if needed. Also if vulnerable people are missing eg elderly with dementia or similar. Other alerts might go off such as weather warnings and fire tracking (I live near yearly forest fires, we have snow and avalanches that sometimes come close to roads and also last few years horrifically hot summer).
It only notifies in our specific area though, not the whole of our state so it’s relevant and not continuous.

Its a good system here so hopefully it’ll work well in the UK too

@Messyplayallday It's helpful to hear from someone in an area where this is already in place - can I ask how frequently you receive alerts?

[BrokenBonesStixStones]

When I was in the US on holiday an Amber alert went off on my phone, wee girl was safely found after - I think it’s a good idea for emergencies

[Hoardasurass]

I'm sorry you feel that way but it's a really good idea to have a system like this. It can be used in the event of a terrorist attack, a chemical spill, or any other type of disaster. It could also in the future be used for a amber alert type of notification.



This system is for emergencies and disasters so it won't be going off all the time and in the nicest possible way you need to take a step back from thinking about this as you are allowing your anxiety talk you into catastrophisizing about the intrusion and impact it will have on your daily life @TheFirstOfHerName

[onelostsoulswimminginafishbowl]

I'm quite surprised to hear the UK doesn't have it, I thought it was pretty standard in most countries.
I know in Greece its usually used for extreme weather such as heatwaves and flooding, also wildfires. Here in NZ it was used everytime we went into another lockdown 🙄

[Ponderingwindow]

heed not need

my kingdom for a typo corrector

[TheFirstOfHerName]

@Hoardasurass - I agree that it's a good idea in general (and haven't said otherwise).

I don't live in an area at risk of evacuation for any hazard. If I did then I would be more likely to leave alerts abled.

I intentionally have my phone on silent at night and for most of the day as I'm quite hypervigilant and loud noises trigger too much adrenaline. If I could have the alert on vibrate only then I think I'd be OK.

If it seems like I have abandoned the thread it's because I'm going to try to get some sleep now (GMT).

[Messyplayallday]

@TheFirstOfHerName

@Messyplayallday It's helpful to hear from someone in an area where this is already in place - can I ask how frequently you receive alerts?

Maybe 5 times this year - 1 missing persons in a car and 4 weather warnings. But we’ve had a huge huge amount of snowfall plus we had some of our worse forest fires last summer so the snowfall in those areas have had no trees to stop avalanches onto the freeways.

last year I only remember it going off a few times and most was to do with the forest fire.

[NumberTheory]

I live in a country with emergency alerts sent to phones.

The first one I received I was driving, it was so loud and unexpected I was distracted from driving. I thought it was really dangerous. I was being informed of a missing child over a hundred miles away, there was no proper description of the child, only that she was female, aged 6, and might be in a red car. I turned of these alerts in settings.

A year or so later I got woken at 4 am by an alert from my city government telling me it was going to be very hot and I should check on my elderly neighbours. I turned off alerts from city government after that.

The third one was an alert to stay home because of COVID-19. This was months and months after the start of the pandemic. I turned off all alerts after that one.

I live somewhere that is prone to some types of natural disaster and is near a military base and could potentially be a target in an attack by terrorists or a hostile country. So an emergency alert system seems like a good idea. But the government here are so heady at the idea of being able to contact everyone that they have lost credibility as far as I'm concerned.

I suspect the UK government will be more restrained. I would give it a chance and see how it goes. But if they abuse it, even once, I'd be looking for hacks to turn it off if you can't just do it in settings.

[steff13]

@Messyplayallday

We have this in the US where I am and it alerts when a child is missing including a car description and plate if needed. Also if vulnerable people are missing eg elderly with dementia or similar. Other alerts might go off such as weather warnings and fire tracking (I live near yearly forest fires, we have snow and avalanches that sometimes come close to roads and also last few years horrifically hot summer).
It only notifies in our specific area though, not the whole of our state so it’s relevant and not continuous.

Its a good system here so hopefully it’ll work well in the UK too

I got an Amber Alert one time at a grocery store. It was super weird to hear everyone's phone go off at the same time.

My daughter is 12 and she got her first cell phone for her birthday back in September. We got an Amber alert a month or so ago and she was very concerned that she was expected to do something. I had to explain to her that it was just to say to be on the lookout for this particular child in case we were out somewhere.

[Danikm151]

I experienced this whilst on holiday in the states 6 years ago. It’s about time the UK caught up.

[Rtmhwales]

I've had it for years living in both Canada and the US. It goes off maybe 3x a year? And that's usually for Amber Alerts. For weather, I don't think I've yet actually had one. It has to be pretty local to you.

[BernadetteIsMySister]

Do you get woken in the night to alert of a missing person?

That would be the end of my sleep! Insomnic hence awake now 😴 I wouldn't want my children woken to that either.

[JudgeRudy]

I have a Samsung. You cannot disable it. I've got the alerts switched off but I'm not happy. It's been active for a couple of years I believe.
This will influence my next choice of phone.

[JudgeRudy]

Not on newer Samsungs.

[DrJump]

We have similar in my country. It has been helpful particular in times of high danger anyway. During fire seasons where there.is lots of active firss already particular alerts help because there is already so much smoke you don't necessarily notice a new fire start near you.

[goodnightkiwi]

@onelostsoulswimminginafishbowl

the NZ alert system is also used for severe weather warnings and tsunami warnings.

[KiwiChch]

I live in NZ and love the alert system - we definitely have a higher risk of earthquakes/tsunamis. I live near the beach and, although we have tsunami sirens, it's another layer of protection