Most governments have the ability to send nationwide alerts to their citizens via smartphone notifications, and the U.K. is planning on doing just that on April 23. As a test of a new emergency alert system, the U.K. government is warning everyone now that U.K. citizens should expect their phones to all sound off together in a few weeks.
The nationwide alarm is a feature that isn’t used very often. That doesn’t diminish its importance, though, as it has taken the place of nationwide TV and radio broadcasts that warn citizens about potential threats in their area, including natural disasters, terrorist attacks, or missing children.
The alarm that’s scheduled for April 23 is just a test, so those who receive it shouldn’t have anything to worry about. In fact, the U.K. has already been testing regional alarms for quite some time, so this is just to see how the alarm will function when it’s sent to everyone in the country.
The U.K. Cabinet Office announced via a YouTube video that the alarm will be going off, but it doesn’t specify when exactly the alarm will sound. According to Forbes, the alarm should be going off sometime in the evening. Take note that, even if your phone is set to silent or vibrate, you’ll still get the notification that will sound the alarm. To silence it, simply select “dismiss” or “OK” or whatever text box appears when the alarm goes off.
If you don’t want to get the alarm, you can temporarily disable emergency alerts in your phone’s settings. Simply open the Settings app and search for Emergency alerts. You should find a toggle that’s defaulted to on, so if you don’t want to be disturbed, you can toggle it off.
The list of phones receiving the alert includes those that are running on Android 11 or later or iOS 14.5 or later. This means that all new devices purchased in the last few years, regardless of their manufacturer, should sound off when the government sets off the alarm. Tablets and other devices that have cellular connections should also be alerted when the time comes.
As mentioned above, there’s nothing to be worried about with this particular alarm since it’s just a test. It might not be a bad idea to set a reminder alarm for that morning, however, so that you know when to anticipate it and not to panic.
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