Testing the Emergency Alerts service

Following the successful national test of the UK Emergency Alerts system on 23 April 2023, the government and mobile network operators will be carrying out occasional ‘operator’ tests.

This is to assess improvements that have been made to the Emergency Alerts service.

You may get this alert if you have a phone that has operator test alerts turned on.

These operator tests are not alerting you of real danger. These alerts will always have ‘operator’ in the title and will confirm that no action is needed.

If you get an operator test alert, your phone may make a loud siren-like sound for about 10 seconds, unless it’s on silent.

Opt out of operator test alerts

How you opt out depends on what phone you have. If you continue getting operator test alerts after opting out, contact your phone manufacturer for help.

Android phones

To stop receiving operator test alerts, search your phone’s settings for ‘emergency alerts’ and turn off ‘test alerts’, ‘exercise alerts’, ‘operator defined’ and ‘operator alerts’. If you cannot see them in your settings:

• open your phone calling app
• use the keypad to enter *#*#2627#*#*
• search your settings for ‘emergency alerts’ and turn off ‘test alerts’, ‘exercise alerts’, ‘operator defined’ and ‘operator alerts’

Other mobile phones

Depending on the manufacturer and software version of your phone, emergency alerts settings may be called different names, such as ‘wireless emergency alerts’ or ‘emergency broadcasts’.

The settings can usually be found in one of the following ways. Go to:

• ‘message’, then ‘message settings, then ‘wireless emergency alerts’, then ‘alert’
• ‘settings’, then ‘sounds’, then ‘advanced’, then ‘emergency broadcasts’
• ‘settings’, then ‘general settings’, then ‘emergency alerts’

Then turn off ‘test alerts’, ‘exercise alerts’, ‘operator defined’ and ‘operator alerts’.