Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Adds 'Test Alerts' Toggle to iPhone Just in Case You Really Want to Receive Test Emergency Alerts

Arnold Ziffel said:
I don’t need the government pinging me.

We used to have Spectrum TV, and they would interrupt shows for Amber Alerts for incidents that happened hundreds of miles away. No point in that other than to ramp up the fear. All reality is local.
Click to expand...
Amber Alerts and Blue Alerts are typically sent state-wide. The incident may have happened out of your area but the perp in these cases may well be in your area. They typically try to leave the state.
 
svish said:
Wonder why 'Test' alerts should be turned on.
Click to expand...
Test alerts are not for the public. They are used by the agencies that send alerts to test and confirm the system. That is why Apple originally made it so difficult to receive test alerts. First you had to enter a gibberish character string. Then it was updated to require a software install. People who needed to receive tests hated those things and now Apple has made it simpler with a toggle. The average person has absolutely no need to toggle test alerts on.
 
Jessica Lares said:
Yeah, they test the city's alert system here every week on a Wednesday at 12PM. They do it on the TV and radio around a similar time too. So this is just an extension of that.
Click to expand...
The TV and radio tests are required to be broadcast monthly. The weekly tests are not required to be broadcast to the public, only received and logged by the TV/radio stations. Tests of the Wireless Emergency Alerts are only required on a national basis every few years. No other such tests are required weekly, monthly or any other schedule. The chances that the average person would receive a WEA test are rather slim; the tests are not intended for the public at all.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jessica Lares
LoadStar said:
I really like the CONCEPT of mobile emergency alerts, including Amber Alerts. The implementation, however, is unbelievably awful.

For one, it seems hit or miss as to whether phones will even receive them. We have two iPhones, one 8 and one SE 2020, both on the same carrier, both were sitting two feet from each other. Both had the same settings. My iPhone 8 received a set of recent alerts, the other iPhone SE 2020 did not. No explanation.

Another time we both received a push alert telling us about an urgent need to shelter-in-place... a couple of hours after the incident had concluded. And no, we never received an "all clear," so I guess I'm still supposed to be hiding in my safe place a few months later...

Then there's the content. Half the time, it's almost indecipherable... one recent was something like "BOLO BM LSW RED/BLUE INV IN PURSUIT. CALL IF SEEN." Ok, after translating ("Be on the lookout for a black male last seen wearing red and blue involved in a pursuit") I'm left thinking "Great, I'm supposed to call... someone.. if I see a black guy ANYWHERE wearing red and blue?"

Finally, it's incredibly frustrating that they're ALL accompanied by the "end of the world apocalypse" EAS 853 Hz and 960 Hz tones. Those tones should be reserved for something where I, personally, am potentially about to be in a life-threatening emergency. I get it, a kid being abducted is urgent, and I'd be glad to keep my eyes open if I'm out and about... but it's not a life threatening emergency FOR ME. Come up with a better tone for those.
Click to expand...
The answer to that is at the ballot box. If people think the alerts are useful but overused, they can vote their local public safety officials out of office. Only incompetent authorities send cryptic alerts or fail to cancel alerts or do not announce that the danger has passed. The federal government doesn't control what your local police chief or sheriff does with the system. As to the sounds, maybe someday a whole collection of different sounds could be shipped with the phone and users self-trained to recognize what each sound means. For now we just get one sound.
 
NMBob said:
I would think with all the political clowns trying to take a bite out of Apple that the default for anything coming from the government would be "on" just to try and make some brownie points.
Click to expand...
Phones ship with the Test option toggled off. These tests are for the agencies using the system, they are not intended for the public. Before the toggle was introduced in the new iOS agency personnel had to go through ridiculous UI gyrations to enable the tests in their own phones.
 
TinyMito said:
Canada needs these toggles… BECAUSE Canada kept on misusing these Emergency alerts!!!

Amber alert in the middle of the night, 500kms away from my city + no description of the child or kidnapper… what do they expect us to do? Get out in PJ and drive, 500kms around to find the child?

w..........t.......f......... Canada service…

Overslept. Lost my Job. Apply for IE. Here goes your Money.
Click to expand...
I turned all of these alerts off like 6 years ago. Was in school at the time and didn't need my phone screeching in the middle of class. San Francisco once sent out an "emergency alert" for public health just because it was like 85˚F outside.
 
1madman1 said:
I wish I could turn these off. One summer when I was stuck in middle of nowhere Ontario for work there was 3-4 of these irritating child custody dispute / lost senior citizen alerts within the period of a month, all in the middle of the night. It's a serious problem for someone who already has insomnia issues.
Click to expand...
Why can't you?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back