Those Experiencing Domestic Violence Urged to Disable Upcoming Mobile Alert from UK Government
UK Residents are set to receive a 10 second test siren from the government on April 23rd 2023 as part of a newly implemented public alert system that will be used to warn citizens about life-threatening situations, such as flooding and wildfires.
Warnings have been issued to the public because of the dangers this could pose to certain vulnerable groups, like those that are in abusive living situations. This is because the emergency alert will still make a sound, even if your phone is on silent, which could lead to the discovery of any secret or secondary phones that are being kept for emergencies.
Organisations that work with vulnerable groups would advise anyone who might be affected by this to to go into the settings on their phones and disable the alert manually ahead of April 23rd. Below are instructions for how to do so on both an apple and an android device.
For more information about the alerts, you can visit About Emergency Alerts – GOV.UK
Apple Devices
Go to “Settings”
Go to “Notifications”
Scroll all the way to the bottom to find “Emergency Alerts” section.
You will see a toggle for “Extreme Alerts” and “Severe Alerts”
Turn them both “Off”
When switched off it will look like this:
Android Devices
Go to “Settings”
Search for “Emergency Alerts”
Turn off all alerts (there should be three toggles)
When switched off it will look like this:
If you have any safeguarding concerns about yourself or anyone else, you can always reach out to our safeguarding email address safe@gingernuttraining.co.uk and someone will help you. Alternatively, you can visit our safeguarding page.