The government is trialling a new emergency alert system today (April 23) which will see all UK phones being sent a warning message accompanied by a siren sound and vibrations.
At 3pm, the emergency test alert will be sent out, which will appear as a message on your smartphone. It'll last for around 10 seconds and you won't need to take any action.
The system has been designed in order to warn people of dangers such as flooding or extreme weather, but it has faced criticism from the likes of domestic abuse charities, who fear the alert will make others aware of victims' hidden phones.
Manchester Evening News reports that the message will 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. Visit gov.uk/alerts for more information. This is a test. You do not need to take any action."
The only action required is to swipe away the message or click ‘OK,' as you would for a ‘low battery’ notification. However, there is a way to disable the alert if you wish to.
By putting your phone on airplane mode it means you won't receive the alert, but to turn them off for good, you can follow these steps.
Turn off emergency alerts on an iPhone
To disable alerts on an iPhone, go to the settings menu and press through to notifications. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and you will see an emergency alerts section, with Extreme Alerts and Severe Alerts.
You can toggle between on and off using the button on the right-hand side.
Turn off emergency alerts on an Android
For an Android device, find the settings menu and select the notifications option. From there, press advanced settings and head towards the bottom of the screen.
There you will see wireless emergency alerts. Click onto it and it will open up an emergency alerts section, where you can opt in and out of Extreme Alerts and Severe Alerts.
There is also the option to select your alert preferences, including vibration and text-to-speech.
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