The best 5G Android phones, iPhones, and tablets make it easy to turn off most notifications. However, some notifications, such as Amber Alerts, can take some effort to silence. When a child is abducted, law enforcement officials notify FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) via its Integrated Public Alert & Warning System. FEMA then issues an Amber Alert through the WEA (Wireless Emergency Alert) system.

From a technical perspective, Amber Alerts and other emergency messages are SMS text messages. However, they're sent to all phones in a specific area instead of just between two phones. These emergency messages are loud and even play when your phone is on Do Not Disturb, but there are ways to avoid them. This guide walks you through steps to turn off Amber Alerts and other emergency notifications.

Deactivate Amber Alerts on a stock Android device

Not too long ago, different carriers and OEMs buried the toggle for Amber Alerts in different places. Today, the process is largely the same across all stock Android devices.

  1. Open the Settings menu on your phone.
  2. Scroll down and select Safety & emergency.
  3. Scroll down again and tap Wireless emergency alerts.
  4. Find the AMBER Alerts toggle and switch it off.

This is the process for turning off Amber Alerts on most Android phones (these screenshots show Android 13 running on a Google Pixel 4a).

The process on some older phones may be different. On a Moto G6 running Android 9, the emergency alert settings are in the Advanced Settings of the Apps & Notifications menu. Older Samsung phones had the Amber Alert toggle buried in the messaging app. However, for the past few years, all its phones have followed the above steps to silence WEA alerts.

How to deactivate Amber Alerts on a Motorola phone

Even though Google briefly owned Motorola, it doesn't run stock Android and has a slightly different method of accessing the WEA alerts.

  1. Open the Settings menu.
  2. Tap Apps & notifications.
  3. Select Advanced.
  4. Tap Wireless emergency alerts.
  5. Find the AMBER Alerts toggle and switch it off.

How to turn off Amber Alerts on an iPhone

Turning off Amber Alerts on your Apple iPhone is a breeze. And since the iOS experience is homogenized across carriers, the process is the same on all modern iPhones. If you have an Apple Watch, this also turns off notifications for it.

  1. Open the Settings app on your phone.
  2. Select Notifications from the Settings menu.
  3. Scroll to the bottom of the Notifications menu until you get to Government Alerts.
  4. Find the AMBER Alerts toggle and switch it off.

What about those other emergency alerts?

You probably noticed a bit more than Amber Alerts going on in your phone's Wireless Emergency Alert/Government Alerts section. On Android, extreme threats and severe threats are analogous to the emergency alerts on iPhone. They're usually weather-related and issued by the National Weather Service for extreme weather events.

WEA messages sent by the NWS.
Source: National Weather Service

Public safety alerts typically aren't as urgent as weather alerts, but they can be as important. Following the Boston Marathon bombing, a shelter-in-place warning was issued to the greater Boston area. Western states often use the WEA system to notify residents they may need to evacuate ahead of a wildfire.

What are Amber Alerts?

Amber Alerts (short for America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) are communications sent out by law enforcement agencies when a child under the age of 18 is believed to have been abducted, is considered to be in imminent danger, and there is sufficient information that can be shared with the public.

The system began in Dallas in 1996 when police teamed up with local broadcasters to share information with the public about child abductions. In 2012, the WEA system went live, and Amber Alerts began showing up on phones.

You should probably leave emergency alerts activated

Amber Alerts and other emergency notifications might become annoying in some cases, but the system is successful at recovering missing children. In 2021, of the 254 children recovered after an Amber Alert was issued for them, around 20% were recovered as a direct result of the Amber Alert being issued. Because of the good they can do, you might want to set your phone to allow Amber Alerts, even if it means interrupting your presentation or movie.

It's also worth mentioning that there is one notification that can never be silenced. The President and the Administrator of FEMA can send an emergency message to every mobile phone in the US (some of you may remember the first time the Presidential Alert was used in 2018 to send a test alert). However, if you have problems with notifications that are not emergency alerts, you can fix them in a few simple steps. You can also follow these tips to manage notifications on your Android phone.