The much-anticipated emergency alert test was sent to phones across the country today (April 23), but it did not land everywhere at the expected 3pm. Even though many were counting down for it, the alert still made some phone-owners 'jump out of their skin', with some social media users reporting it came through earlier than they thought.
The nationwide alert forms part of the UK government's toolkit of services to warn residents if there is a nearby danger to life.
Following a large media campaign, the government sent out a test alert to all 4G and 5G capable mobile phones to show people what a real alert would look and sound like. The loud alarm blared until it was manually turned off - but came a little early than expected for some people.
Read more: Emergency government alert to be sent out to all UK phones - LIVE updates
The media campaign advised phone-owners the alert would sound and vibrate at 3pm unless the service or phone was manually turned off. However, some users, who were preparing to turn the alert off at 3pm, were startled when it came through at 2.59pm - one minute early.
Taking to Twitter, one user said: "They did the damn thing early!" Another said it made them "jump out of [their] skin".
Meanwhile, some Twitter users claimed not to have received the alert at all, even 10 minutes after the alarm was due to sound. One tweeter said: "Well, no emergency text for me. Looks like I'm screwed in a national crisis."
Another said: "Well this #emergencyalert failed to go off on 3 of the 5 phones within my household. (they were all turned on, had charge and had simp cards) Can't say it was a phenomenal success."
A third person added: "The #EmergencyAlerts didn't land on my smartphone, is that cos of the network I'm on or are they sending a chopper instead to rescue me??????"
Some people report phones on some networks did receive the alert, while others on different networks in the same house did not, while some people in different locations reported the alert came through at different times.
In a real emergency, the alert would warn people of danger in the immediate area - the government has said it is unlikely to be used on a national level and is more likely to be used to warn of severe flooding or other weather conditions affecting a local area. In today's test, those who did receive the alert hears a blaring siren-like alarm with the following emssage displayed on their mobile phone screen:
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.
Visit gov.uk/alerts for more information.
This is a test. You do not need to take any action.
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