Public Emergency Alerts To Be Sent To All UK Mobile Phones

One of the worst things about living in the US was being woken up by these EAS alarms going off at 2AM and crapping yourself because you think you’re about to be bombed. Only to look and see that it’s an upcoming weather warning for another city that’s not even slightly local.

Hopefully when the UK start using these broadcasts they do a better job at keeping the alerts more localised to relevant areas.

Also. It’s worth noting that the UK ones only work on smartphones connected to the 4G and 5G networks at the time of broadcast, and only with certain firmware versions. There’s currently a lot of limitations and edge case exceptions to the UK setup that mean true emergency messages could be missed by a fair few people.

Here's some info so people know how to opt out. gov.uk/ale…ork
Also, not every phone or mobile device is compatible;
You will not receive alerts if your device is:

turned off or
in airplane mode
connected to a 2G or 3G network
wifi only
not compatible i.e.

• Phones running earlier versions than iOS 14.5
• Android phones and tablets running earlier than Android 11

(edited)

They could be life saving, they could also be false ones like this:



Also, these got pretty misused in the US. Amber alerts for a missing child at 4am 20 miles away.

Taken from the Gov website.

"The service has already been used successfully in a number of other countries, including the US, Canada, the Netherlands and Japan, where it has been widely credited with saving lives, for example, during severe weather events. In the UK, alerts could be used to tell residents of villages being encroached by wildfires, or of severe flooding."

Announcing the launch of the new alerts system, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Oliver Dowden MP, said:

We are strengthening our national resilience with a new emergency alerts system, to deal with a wide range of threats - from flooding to wild fires.

It will revolutionise our ability to warn and inform people who are in immediate danger, and help us keep people safe. As we’ve seen in the U.S. and elsewhere, the buzz of a phone can save a life.

I for one don't live near a place that risks severe flooding or wildfires so if I can get out of not receiving / responding to these messages I will. Do not trust governments when they say they are doing things to help you, there will be something nefarious to their actions on this.

Haha, all the anti smart meter brigade will be switching these off.

More sickening control, what's even more worrying is several countries are doing this at the same time.

I had a popup on my phone a few days ago stating that the alerts had been switched back on by the carrier. I checked, and sure enough, it was on. Switched it off, but I’m wondering if it will be switched on again before the alert. I didn’t get a chance to do a screen shot of the o popup as it was very quick.

I would just like to announce to all the random people that I don't know on HUKD that my alert worked today at 2.59pm. I hope thats really interesting or useful information for you all.

Thanks op will need to turn mine off before the screws hear mine going off in block C

I have 5 phones and not seen anything

Does the Govt know something we dont?

Glad to see a lot of people on here have the same thoughts as me regarding this.

I didn't expect that from the comments I usually see on this website

So the real question is why now? And not before...... nuclear fall out soon ?

Is this alarm only on smart phones?

A population in a constant state of fear is an easily manipulated one.

Fearful folks will take any orders or put up with anything for the illusion of safety

There's this funny conspiracy theory out there that 'the government and elites care for you'.

Some whack jobs actually believe that (edited)

It's truly baffling to see so many people who would normally say they don't trust the Tories suddenly saying "They're not going to abuse this, why would they?"

You'll likely be getting an alert every day in the summer when it's very hot and every day in the winter when it's very cold

It isn't "tin foil hat" to suggest the government (Tory, Labour, SNP, whatever) like to treat us like children and ever increase their influence on our lives. In 2020/21 they were telling you how many visitors you could have in your own home while they were having parties (edited)

Mines turned off . Haven’t needed an alert in the last 40 years and did ok. I don’t like being told I’m getting an alert - ask me if I don’t mind first. Feels like an invasion of privacy and I do think they will use it for the most minor of things , like heavy rain .

Imagine if the nearly 1/4 of a million people who were killed by the 2004 boxing day Tsunami had the chance of receiving a warning like this. (We would have been in the area a few days later)

Rather that just put your tin foil hat on and read the (a certain newspaper)
or (certain social media) - think before you switch it off. You have free will, there is no need to be a .. as well. (edited)

More nanny state control. Will be turning off my alerts. The less I hear from "the government" the better.

Turned mine off. I like small government.

No thanks

Practice for the pending climate lockdowns that will no doubt be coming in the future. (edited)

Well since they screwed this up by merging 2 threads.

For the tin foil hat wearers that walk amongst us. You can turn alerts off in your phone settings. But don't come swimming to me when we get a tsunami , cos you've turned your emergency alerts off. (edited)

I live in Northern Ireland where there is a very real chance of a terrorist threat, still managed to survive without this "service" and I really don't see the benefits. I guess we are going to be alerted about the gorse fires or that another monkey has escaped from the zoo. Although I'm not sure how life threatening they are as again no-one was injured or killed in the past when these events happened?
Extreme weather in the UK; I mean I don't recall a category 5 hurricane ever touching down in the UK? Earthquakes? We usually hear a few people complain that it woke them up.

It just seems yet another unnecessary intrusion

gov.uk/ale…sts

Do not be afraid ! in case of a real emergency alert just take your cat and hide in the woods. Furthermore, if you need help in case of emergency remember their phone number: 0118 999 881 999 119 725-3.

This is for nuclear attacks.

I think the government should send us an alert every time an MP does something purely for their own benefit at the cost of the taxpayer. Our phones would never stop pinging.

So weather in the UK isnt sudden enough (like a tornado appearing) or severe enough that you would need an alert to tell you. The met office name even the weakest of ‘winter storms’ now and its become a bit of a non thing now.

Also, we don’t have wide open plains of sweeping wild fires like in Aus/US where the fire fronts travel at incredible speeds etc.

If your house was at risk of flooding, like in the Somerset levels or York etc then one would hope that, as it happens so often, once prolonged rain came along you would prepare for a calm evacuation.

Terrorism is one you would like to know about near by but by the time the alerts are sent out it tends to be over and if you are hiding in cupboard, following the other advice, the last thing you want in phones beeping giving your position away to the attacker.

Ive lived near to a sensitive site all my life and we get the odd false siren (outside in the air not on phones) and it becomes part of life.

I feel these alerts risk becoming so often and mundane about a thunder storm or whatever people wont react when actually needed.