For people who don’t read the article, this is in relation to victims who might have a second secret phone, a not uncommon situation. It could be absolutely critical for victims to disable these alerts on their second phone (or keep it turned off) to prevent that phone being discovered by their abuser – the alert will sound even if the phone is on silent mode.
If you know someone who is in this situation, it might be worth letting them know. The test alert is due to go out tomorrow (Sunday 23rd) at 3pm so there should be plenty of time to get the settings changed in time.
Edit: A little more information that I just got from Radio 4 coverage of this situation. The alert will be rebroadcast to catch “stragglers” over a roughly 30 minute period, so if anyone is thinking of handling this by turning the phone off or putting it in flight mode for a few minutes, that may not be enough. Also, considering that this is just the first scheduled test and future alerts will be unplanned, it’s much better to turn off the alert on secret phones as the time and date for the next alert (if there is one) will not be publicised.
People downvoting this: you think it deserves less visibility?
glad this is getting more attention. Have family in the service and they said this as well as the new online safety bill is going to cause unintended but potentially devastating consequences for victims
Thanks for pinning this
I didn’t even realise this emergency alert had a sound. I thought it was just a notification.
Genuine question – what purpose does a second phone serve for someone who is in an abusive relationship?
I work on the trains. Cannot wait to have 600 phones all going off in unison with a loud alert.
Said that a while back and experts down-voters lectured me.
I heard about this a few days ago on my other social media accounts and it was surprisingly depressing. Like I get a lot of bad news , but this hit harder for some reason. I think it’s because the system is supposed to help people, but potentially some people are going to be hurt by it.
If you can’t find the option to disable this in Android settings, try opening the Messages app > Settings > Emergency alert settings.
I’d hope people with hidden phones keep them off anyway. No good needing to use your secret phone and finding the battery flat.
I understand this BUT…
If the phone is off, it won’t sound.If the phone is charged and on, it’s owner has regular access to it to charge it and so I’d have thought also has the time to change the setting (it’s really not that hard).
I do understand how people don’t want this but there are huge swathes of people who probably would want that extra time if their life was in danger.
I am glad this message is being put out, it seems like a “lets put some PR out, and hope” from the Government.
Also for the rest of us, its a good to know how to turn this kind of thing off.
Is this a genuine problem? Like if someone has a secret phone wouldnt it be turned off anyway to save battery if they ever did need it?
There is one thing I’ve considered when hearing all these news stories about this alert that use the angle of people’s hidden phones. I’m fortunate enough to never have been in a domestic violence situation, so the idea that victims would have a second phone has never occurred to me. Which leads me to think that there are many perpetrators of domestic violence that didn’t consider that their victim would have a second phone for this purpose. Thus this might actually cause *more* issues in households where this is something that happens. I’m now imagining situations where the perpetrator is trying to get information about their victim’s second phone (whether they have one or not).
Yes, I’ve seen quite a bit of attention on this regarding the emergency alert.
Just opt-out so the government doesn’t get their own way.
I wonder if this is going to impact road safety at all. I could see some jumpy drivers who are easily spooked losing control of their vehicles. All it takes are a few seconds of distraction. Hopefully it won’t be an issue.
18 comments
For people who don’t read the article, this is in relation to victims who might have a second secret phone, a not uncommon situation. It could be absolutely critical for victims to disable these alerts on their second phone (or keep it turned off) to prevent that phone being discovered by their abuser – the alert will sound even if the phone is on silent mode.
If you know someone who is in this situation, it might be worth letting them know. The test alert is due to go out tomorrow (Sunday 23rd) at 3pm so there should be plenty of time to get the settings changed in time.
Edit: A little more information that I just got from Radio 4 coverage of this situation. The alert will be rebroadcast to catch “stragglers” over a roughly 30 minute period, so if anyone is thinking of handling this by turning the phone off or putting it in flight mode for a few minutes, that may not be enough. Also, considering that this is just the first scheduled test and future alerts will be unplanned, it’s much better to turn off the alert on secret phones as the time and date for the next alert (if there is one) will not be publicised.
People downvoting this: you think it deserves less visibility?
glad this is getting more attention. Have family in the service and they said this as well as the new online safety bill is going to cause unintended but potentially devastating consequences for victims
Thanks for pinning this
I didn’t even realise this emergency alert had a sound. I thought it was just a notification.
Genuine question – what purpose does a second phone serve for someone who is in an abusive relationship?
I work on the trains. Cannot wait to have 600 phones all going off in unison with a loud alert.
Said that a while back and experts down-voters lectured me.
I heard about this a few days ago on my other social media accounts and it was surprisingly depressing. Like I get a lot of bad news , but this hit harder for some reason. I think it’s because the system is supposed to help people, but potentially some people are going to be hurt by it.
If you can’t find the option to disable this in Android settings, try opening the Messages app > Settings > Emergency alert settings.
I’d hope people with hidden phones keep them off anyway. No good needing to use your secret phone and finding the battery flat.
I understand this BUT…
If the phone is off, it won’t sound.If the phone is charged and on, it’s owner has regular access to it to charge it and so I’d have thought also has the time to change the setting (it’s really not that hard).
I do understand how people don’t want this but there are huge swathes of people who probably would want that extra time if their life was in danger.
I am glad this message is being put out, it seems like a “lets put some PR out, and hope” from the Government.
Also for the rest of us, its a good to know how to turn this kind of thing off.
Is this a genuine problem? Like if someone has a secret phone wouldnt it be turned off anyway to save battery if they ever did need it?
There is one thing I’ve considered when hearing all these news stories about this alert that use the angle of people’s hidden phones. I’m fortunate enough to never have been in a domestic violence situation, so the idea that victims would have a second phone has never occurred to me. Which leads me to think that there are many perpetrators of domestic violence that didn’t consider that their victim would have a second phone for this purpose. Thus this might actually cause *more* issues in households where this is something that happens. I’m now imagining situations where the perpetrator is trying to get information about their victim’s second phone (whether they have one or not).
Yes, I’ve seen quite a bit of attention on this regarding the emergency alert.
Just opt-out so the government doesn’t get their own way.
I wonder if this is going to impact road safety at all. I could see some jumpy drivers who are easily spooked losing control of their vehicles. All it takes are a few seconds of distraction. Hopefully it won’t be an issue.