There have been times when your iPhone suddenly started ringing with loud and annoying sounds. We’ve all been to the place where we get these loud government notices. While they are necessary to stay on top of government alerts when we need peace and avoid all those notifications, we need to turn them off. Here’s how to turn off Government Aerts on your iPhone.
How to disable government alerts on iPhone
To turn off government alerts on your iPhone, follow these steps.
For iPhone with iOS 15.4 and above:
- Go to the Settings app.
- Scroll to Notifications.
- Go to Government Alerts.
- Turn off all alerts.
For iPhone with iOS 15.3 or below:
- Open the phone app.
- Go to the keyboard and dial *5005*25370# to disable alerts.
- a pop-up window will appear with the message “alerts disabled”.
Note. Please note that government alerts are not available in all countries or regions. Thus, you may not find them on your iOS device. Also, whether you have disabled emergency alerts or not, if you are a US resident, your device will continue to receive Presidential Alerts (from the White House) via FEMA that alert people to national emergencies.
What is an emergency alert
In emergencies, government officials use WEA (Wireless Emergency Alerts) to provide us with reliable and timely system alerts. These are short emergency messages from authorized federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial public alert agencies. These messages are broadcast from cell towers in targeted areas. Emergency alerts are only sent to WEA-enabled devices.
Here are the types of alerts you may receive from WEA:
- Amber Alert
- Presidential warning
- Public Safety Warning
- Test warning
AMBER Alert:
The AMBER alert is designed to alert users when a person (in most cases a child) is missing. It stands for America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response. This alert usually appears when a person goes missing. The distribution area of these alerts is highly dependent on the area of the missing person.
President’s warning:
The presidential alert is also known as the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). The highest authorities of the US national government use this alert in emergency situations. The Presidential WEA warns citizens of threats such as terrorist attacks, rapid natural disasters, etc.
Public Safety Warning:
Public safety alerts are usually geo-referenced. Mostly local authorities. These alerts include information about small earthquakes or public announcements of severe weather.
Test Alerts:
These alerts are for checking if these alerts are working. Test alerts are run by governments and are user specific. Unlike other important warnings, you can turn these warnings off permanently.
Conclusion. As a final note, I would like to suggest that these alerts should not be disabled unless absolutely necessary, as they are important alerts that provide us with information about our security.
You can read the details and steps on the official US government READY website for these warnings and information about them. Looking good!
Final note: We all need a digital detox from time to time. Although these are the most important alerts, there is nothing wrong with turning them off from time to time. Not only will you be calm during this period of time, but you will be able to focus more on your important work. Share your opinion about it in the comments.