How does the warning system work on my smartphone?

How can residents be warned as quickly as possible when there is a risk of flooding, forest fires, storms or other weather conditions? In Germany, a technology called Cell Broadcast will be used for this purpose in the future. Nationwide testing scheduled for December 8: All mobile phone users must receive a letter from the federal government. In the coming days, network operators will also inform customers via SMS about the cellular broadcast warning system. This was announced by mobile service providers Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom and Telefónica (O₂) on Thursday.

The most important questions and answers on the topic at a glance:

What is cellular broadcasting?

Cell broadcast technology has been around for a long time. Cell broadcast (CB) means that A message is sent from a radio mast to all mobile phones in its collecting area. In Germany, this technology has so far been used only to send sponsored content as push messages, such as weather forecasts or news reports from news sites. Now you want it Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) is testing the use of cellular broadcasting as a warning system in the event of a disaster. In other countries, CB letters have been used for this purpose for a long time.

How can cellular broadcasting work as an alarm system?

In the event of a disaster, the responsible rescue control center should issue a short warning message. This is then sent directly to all mobile phones in the affected area by the mobile operators via their mobile towers. Then the message appears immediately on the mobile phone screen. Depending on the significance of the danger message, an alarm tone should also sound.

How do I get alerts on my phone?

To get the CB message, all you have to do is keep your phone on. If you are in a radio mast area from which the warning was sent, it will reach you as well. Even mobile users who later went to the sending area should still be able to receive the message. However, if you disable emergency notifications on your phone, you will not be able to receive lower level alerts.

How does cellular broadcasting work on my smartphone?

With Apple smartphones, the alert system will work with all devices from the iPhone 6s onwards, as long as their operating system is up-to-date (currently iOS 16.1 or 15.7.1 and 15.6.1). Google Android devices are compatible from Android version 11 onwards. However, an estimated one-third of all Android smartphones are running an older version that cannot receive cellular broadcasts.

On some devices, cellular broadcast reception still has to be activated manually. On the iPhone, you can find the settings via the “Notifications” menu item at the bottom of the “Cell Broadcast Alerts” section. On Android devices, the settings are usually located via a submenu such as “Security and Emergency” in the Settings menu. Depending on the manufacturer, the section for turning the message on and off is called Wireless Emergency Alerts or Mobile Emergency Notifications.

How to disable cellular broadcasting?

You can use your phone’s settings to select which emergency notifications you want to partially allow and which ones you don’t. This applies to both Apple and Android operating system. There you can decide if you only want to receive notifications in case of extreme danger, for example, or test warnings as well, such as those that will be sent out by the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance in December. However, according to the BKK, warning messages with the highest warning level (warning level 1) should not be suppressed.

Why haven’t cell broadcast warnings been in Germany for a while?

In Japan, Canada and New Zealand, cellular broadcast warnings have long been used to warn residents of natural disasters such as earthquakes, fires, and floods. Germany is not a typical risk area for natural disasters. According to the BKK, the technical and legal requirements for using cellular broadcasting as an alarm system were also missing in the past. Presenting it again is expensive: BBK goes from 30 to 40 million euros “initial volume” to install the system. However, after the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley in 2021, there were calls for new warning technology. At that time, flood warnings did not reach many people. Finally, it was decided to test cellular broadcasting also as a warning technology in Germany. Mobile network providers operating in Germany are now required to set up cellular broadcasts.

What are the pros and cons of cellular broadcasting as an alert system?

Cell broadcast alerts can reach a large number of people in an area affected by a disaster simultaneously. Another advantage of cell broadcast messages is that they can be received on the cell phone even if there is no internet connection and the cell phone network is overloaded. According to the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance, it can therefore be received not only on smartphones, but also on mobile phones that do not have the Internet function.

However, if the mobile network goes down completely, the technology will not work again. In addition, recipients’ mobile phones must be charged and powered on. If the power is cut off for a longer period of time, this will be a defect. In addition, only text messages and no images can be sent via cellular broadcast in order to provide more information.

What about privacy on Cell Broadcast?

With cellular broadcasting, data must be sent in only one direction: from a radio mast to your mobile phone. According to the Federal Consumer Advice Center, the service can be run completely anonymously. This is also an important difference between cell broadcast message and SMS: to send a message via SMS, the sender must have access to all cell phone numbers.

What will happen on December 8, 2022?

On the national network “Warentage” on December 8, reports will be sent to mobile phones across Germany using broadcast technology. Recipients can ensure that reception on their mobile phone is working. According to the Federal Consumer Advice Center, anyone who does not receive a message can do so on the website www.warning-der-bevoelkerung.de a report. Feedback should also be possible in the NINA Warning app and on the websites and social media channels of the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance.