Millions of people were surprised last week by an emergency message to their mobile phones from the Government. These notifications override the silent or 'Do not disturb' settings in your phone, making a loud alarm sound as you get the message.
Reason for the alert
The reason for last week's message was to notify people about the national risk of wildfires. People were instructed in the alert to "not undertake any activity that could start a fire, including disposable barbecues, firepits, garden incinerators or fireworks". But there have been criticisms that this was an inappropriate use of the emergency messaging system.
Opting out
If you would prefer not to receive these messages from the Government, you can switch them off in your mobile device. The Government continues to urge the public to keep the notification system enabled on their devices. The official guidance is that the broadcasts deliver critical, "life-saving information". However, you can choose not to participate.
Mobile phone users who would prefer not to receive the loud broadcasts can manually opt out at any time, by turning off emergency alerts inside their device's settings.
iPhone instructions
To opt out of getting the messages on an iPhone: Go to your settings and select the 'notifications' menu. Scroll to the bottom of the page. Turn off 'severe alerts' and 'extreme alerts'.
Android and other devices
To opt out on an Android device: Go to your settings and search for 'Emergency alerts'. Turn off 'Severe alerts' and 'Extreme alerts'.
If you have a different device, how the emergency alerts settings is listed will depend on your device. It could be named something like 'Wireless emergency alerts' or 'Emergency broadcasts'. You can usually find this in your settings in one of these ways: 'Message', then 'Message settings', then 'Wireless emergency alerts', then 'Alert'; 'Settings', then 'Sounds', then 'Advanced', then 'Emergency broadcasts'; or 'Settings', then 'General settings', then 'Emergency alerts'. Once you have found the right option, turn off 'Severe alerts', 'Extreme alerts' and 'Test alerts'.
