How to Turn Off Emergency Alerts on Your Smartphone
Introduction
Everyone is in an uproar over the Government’s alerts. Or at least it was like that on social networks. I am referring to the scandalous beeping that woke up, surprised and even scared millions of Madrid residents who are not yet accustomed to the Population Notice System. A sound that was accompanied by an SMS message warning of an extreme weather situation. The message itself was explanatory and clarifying, but the beeping caused many complaints. So, you may have considered turning off alerts to avoid that sound.
Also known as ES-Alert or reverse 112, the Population Notification System is an alarm system that Civil Protection will use from now on in the event of a serious accident or emergency. It was activated in the summer of last year, and during October and November, it was tested in selected populations of all the Autonomous Communities. However, it was not given much publicity, and our memory is capricious.
As it may be, one of the features of this notification system is that you can deactivate the alerts on your mobile phone. If you have an iPhone with iOS 15.6 or higher or an Android device 11 or higher, alerts are activated by default. But you have the option of deactivating them to avoid the annoying beeping that has caused so much commotion.
Why you shouldn’t disable them
The government alerts that civil protection will be used from now on and will be activated whenever an emergency or large adverse weather event occurs or is going to occur. That’s why you shouldn’t disable alerts. They consist of a very loud beep, so you can hear it even if you are far away from your mobile phone. Optionally, your phone can vibrate. And finally, you will receive an SMS message that you must read and accept to deactivate the beep.
The reason for these alerts is so that everyone in an affected area is informed and has time to get safe, prepare or avoid risky behaviour. For example, in a storm or flood, the objective is for the population to avoid leaving home or travelling to flooded or flood-prone places.
Until now, these types of notices were communicated to the media. And they informed the population. With social networks, warnings about emergencies or adverse situations spread more easily. But with ES-Alert, the authorities ensure that the notice will reach whoever it should get in time. However, you decide whether or not you want to have alerts activated.
How to disable alerts on Android
To deactivate alerts on Android mobile phones, you will have to go to the operating system Settings and change an option. It’s simple, but you have to find it in the gibberish, which is the Android settings menu. Follow these steps:
- Go to Android Settings
- Go to Security and emergencies
- Click on Wireless emergency alerts or similar
- Then go to Civil Protection Pre-Alert
- Deactivate this option by clicking on the corresponding button
Within Wireless Emergency Alerts, you will see that there are different types of alerts. Even if you don’t see the Civil Protection option, you can disable some or all other alerts and notices, view the history of previous alerts, and disable vibration so that you can only hear the beep when your phone is not vibrating.
How to turn off alerts on iPhone with iOS
If you use an iPhone, its iOS operating system also allows you to deactivate government alerts in case of emergency. This time, follow a different path. You just have to go to Settings and enter Notifications.
Once there, scroll down to the bottom of the menu to find the Government Alerts option. However, in the case at hand, it is more likely that you will see the ES-ALERT option and below Civil Protection Pre-Alerts. It should be on by default, but you can turn it off or on by clicking the button on the right.
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