The AMBER Alert system is an excellent tool for finding and recovering children abducted in your area. According to the U.S. government, this system has helped recover 1,029 children throughout all participating regions — 87 just through Wireless Emergency Alerts alone.
However, these alerts will blast across mobile devices — phones, tablets, smartwatches — at any time, even when you’re asleep. You can toggle these AMBER alerts off, but that will limit your ability to help authorities recover these abducted innocents. This guide shows you how to turn off AMBER and other emergency alerts (except for Presidential alerts) on Android and iOS devices.
Turning off AMBER alerts in iOS
AMBER alerts are categorized as Government Alerts alongside Emergency Alerts and Public Safety Alerts. Provided you’re using an iPhone 4S or newer and your carrier is AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, or Verizon, you should be able to toggle all three on and off.
Step 1: Tap to open the Settings app.
Step 2: Tap Notifications.
Step 3: Scroll down and tap the toggle next to AMBER Alerts listed under Government Alerts. Repeat this step to re-enable this feature later as needed or to toggle off the other two alerts.
Turning off AMBER alerts in Android
Unlike Apple’s iPhone, the methods to adjust AMBER alerts on Android devices are many. Here, we cover stock Android 11 and the variants installed on Samsung, LG, and OnePlus devices.
Stock Android 11
Step 1: Swipe down from the top to expand the Notifications Shade and tap the Cog icon. This opens the Settings panel.
Step 2: Tap Apps & Notifications.
Step 3: Tap Advanced.
Step 4: Tap Wireless Emergency Alerts.
Step 5: Tap the toggle next to AMBER Alerts to turn this feature off. Repeat this step to re-enable this feature later as needed or to toggle off the other alerts.
Tapping on the toggle next to Allow Alerts switches all alerts off. No other manual toggling is required.
Samsung Galaxy phones
There are several ways to disable AMBER alerts depending on the model and carrier.
Use the Messages app
Step 1: Tap to open the Messages app.
Step 2: Tap the Three-Dot menu icon next to the search (magnifying glass) icon.
Step 3: Tap Settings on the drop-down menu.
Step 4: Tap Emergency Alert Settings.
Step 5: Tap Emergency Alerts.
Step 6: Tap the toggle next to AMBER Alerts to turn this feature off. Repeat this step to re-enable this feature later as needed or to switch off the other alerts.
Disable through Settings
Step 1: Swipe down from the top to expand the Notifications Shade and tap the Cog icon. This opens the Settings panel.
Step 2: Tap Connections.
Step 3: Tap More Connection Settings.
Step 4: Tap Wireless Emergency Alerts.
Step 5: Tap the Three-Dot settings icon.
Step 6: Tap Alert Types.
Step 7: Tap the toggle next to AMBER Alerts to turn this feature off. Repeat this step to re-enable this feature later as needed or to switch off the other alerts.
Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge (Verizon)
Step 1: Go to your app drawer and tap Emergency Alerts.
Step 3: Tap Settings in the upper-right corner.
Step 3: Tap Alert types.
Step 5: Tap the toggle next to AMBER Alerts to turn this feature off. Repeat this step to re-enable this feature later as needed or to switch off the other alerts.
Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge (Verizon)
Step 1: Swipe down from the top to expand the Notifications Shade and tap the Cog icon. This opens the Settings panel.
Step 2: Tap Privacy and Emergency.
Step 3: Tap Emergency Alerts
Step 4: Tap Settings in the upper-right corner.
Step 5: Tap Alert types.
Step 6: Tap the toggle next to AMBER Alerts to turn this feature off. Repeat this step to re-enable this feature later as needed or to switch off the other alerts.
Galaxy S10 (Verizon)
Step 1: Swipe down from the top to expand the Notifications Shade and tap the Cog icon. This opens the Settings panel.
Step 2: Tap Notifications.
Step 3: Tap Advanced Settings.
Step 4: Tap Wireless Emergency Alerts
Step 5: Tap the Toggle next to AMBER Alerts to disable this feature. Repeat this step to re-enable this feature later as needed or to switch off the other alerts.
LG phones
As we saw on Samsung phones, manufacturers stray away from Google’s stock design, so these instructions are different on LG’s devices.
Disable through Settings
Step 1: Tap to open Settings.
Step 2: Tap Network & Internet.
Step 3: Tap Wireless Emergency Alerts.
Step 4: Tap the Three-Dot menu icon.
Step 5: Tap Settings.
Step 6: Tap the toggle next to AMBER Alerts to turn this feature off. Repeat this set to re-enable this feature later on as needed or to switch off the other alerts.
Disable through the Messaging app
Step 1: Tap to open the Messaging app.
Step 2: Tap the Menu icon.
Step 3: Tap Settings.
Step 4: Tap More listed under Advanced Settings.
Step 5: Tap Emergency Alerts.
Step 6: Tap to clear the box next to AMBER Alerts. Repeat this step to re-enable this feature later on as needed or to switch off the other alerts.
OnePlus phones
Here, we’ll disable AMBER alerts using the Messages app.
Step 1: Tap to open the Messages app.
Step 2: Tap the Three-Dot menu icon.
Step 3: Tap Settings.
Step 4: Tap Wireless Alerts.
Step 5: Tap another Three-Dot menu icon.
Step 6: Tap Settings.
Step 7: Tap the toggle next to AMBER Alerts to disable this feature. Repeat this set to re-enable this feature later as needed or to switch off the other alerts.
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