After the devastating Texas flooding earlier this month and with hurricane season now underway, it’s more important than ever to make sure your phone can alert you — loudly and clearly — when danger is approaching. Emergency alerts are only effective if people receive them in time and recognize their urgency. Yet, many Texas residents reported receiving flood warnings too late or not at all, underscoring gaps in public alerting systems.
Whether you live in a hurricane-prone area, a tornado alley or just want to stay prepared, following the steps below will ensure your phone is properly set up to deliver emergency warnings that can cut through silent mode, wake you up and possibly save your life during an emergency.
Read also: Tornadoes, Floods, Wildfires, Intruders: 4 Ways Your Phone Can Help in an Emergency
1. Turn on Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA)
On iPhones:
CNETGo to Settings > Notifications > Government Alerts.Make sure Public Safety Alerts, Emergency Alerts and Always Play Sound are turned on.The “Always Play Sound” option is crucial. This ensures alerts will sound even when your phone is on silent or Do Not Disturb mode.
On Android devices:
Go to Settings > Safety & Emergency > Wireless Emergency Alerts (location may vary slightly depending on your phone model).Turn on Allow Alerts, and make sure both Extreme Threats and Severe Threats are enabled.
These alerts use a distinct, loud tone and vibration pattern to get your attention — even in the middle of the night.
2. Enable location services for accuracy
Emergency alerts are often geo-targeted. If your phone doesn’t know your location, it may not receive a relevant warning.
For iPhones:
Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Weather.Set it to Always Allow and enable Precise Location.
For Android devices:
Check that your weather or emergency apps have location permissions enabled.Enable “Use Precise Location” if your phone supports it.
Without location services, you may miss localized alerts, or frustratingly, receive alerts for areas you’re not in.
3. Supplement with weather apps and local alert services
While government alerts are vital, they’re not the only way to stay informed. Redundancy is key to staying safe in case of an emergency weather event.
Install apps like Storm Shield, NOAA Weather Radar Live or the American Red Cross Emergency App. These can provide push notifications or voice alerts that often come faster than WEA alerts. Many of them will override silent mode as well.
Also, be sure to sign up for your local city or county emergency alert system, which may offer targeted text messages, phone calls or emails, too. Having multiple systems in place ensures you get the message even if one alert fails or is missed.
4. Use a NOAA weather radio for backup
Technology fails. Cell towers go down. Power gets knocked out. That’s why the National Weather Service recommends keeping a battery-powered NOAA Weather Radio on hand. A weather radio never relies on cell service and can be a literal lifesaver, especially at night or during power outages.
It’s best practice to look for models with loud alerts, multiple power sources (battery, solar, crank) and SAME (Specific Area Message Encoding) to program for your location. Reliable options include radios from Midland and Raynic, which are widely available online.
5. Test your system regularly
Just like a smoke detector, your alert system needs maintenance. Here are a few ways to maintain your system:
Periodically check that WEA alerts are still enabled.Ensure your apps are updated and functional.Verify that your phone’s volume and alert settings haven’t changed after system updates.Test your NOAA radio and replace batteries as needed.
Proactive checks can prevent false security and help you act quickly when a real threat arises.
6. Customize alerts and encourage smart use
To ensure alerts stand out and are taken seriously:
Customize the tone or vibration pattern for weather alerts or alerting apps.Don’t ignore alerts or disable them after receiving a non-emergency or misclassified message.Encourage family members to do the same, especially older relatives who may not be tech-savvy.
Some experts suggest alert tones should be more distinct between different alert types (like Amber Alerts versus weather alerts) to reduce confusion and improve responsiveness.
Why emergency alerts matter now
The recent flooding in Texas highlighted a sobering truth — that even modern alert systems aren’t perfect. People reported receiving warnings too late, after water had already risen, or mistaking flood alerts for other alerts due to similar tones. In hurricane-prone or flood-prone regions, this kind of delay can mean the difference between safely evacuating and getting caught in life-threatening conditions.
With extreme weather events becoming more common and intense due to climate change, making sure your phone is properly set up to receive and respond to emergency alerts is a small but essential step in protecting yourself and your family.
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