I'm on T-Mobile, connected to WiFi calling, and still got the alert. Three times on both my XS Max and Series 4 Watch. The watch doesn't even have cellular service activated at the moment yet it went off. And no, it wasn't just feeding me the alert from the phone because I wasn't even wearing the watch at the time.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Other Presidential Alert
- Thread starter Martyimac
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I'm on T-Mobile, connected to WiFi calling, and still got the alert. Three times on both my XS Max and Series 4 Watch. The watch doesn't even have cellular service activated at the moment yet it went off. And no, it wasn't just feeding me the alert from the phone because I wasn't even wearing the watch at the time.
I do hope people realize the messages are send by FEMA, not the White House. That he couldn't resist from having the alerts named so it seems he's sending them, is irrelevant. I don't like my Prime Minister, doesn't mean that I'd turn off emergency alerts if he decided it should be name Prime Ministerial Alerts or something silly like that. If you're putting your safety on the line over something this petty... Well, never mind, that'd be a positive thing, actually.
Moderator Note:
Please keep the politics out of this forum. Please use the Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum if you want to post comments about the President.
Please keep the politics out of this forum. Please use the Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum if you want to post comments about the President.
You know that message you've always wanted to send to your boss ... You've got 4 minutes to compose and send it.
Those of you who didn't get the message, don't worry, there's another rocket for you!
What am I supposed to do about a national emergency? Already going to vote in November.
So let me get this straight. Local alerts like severe weather, I can do something about, can be turned off. But “presidential alerts” like incoming nukes, where my choice is die now or few weeks later in FEMA tent city from radiation, I can’t turn off. Curious.........
All I know is I nearly hit the ceiling when phone made that noise at full volume. The Max is pretty loud you know. Glad I wasn’t driving at the time.
Last edited:
Mine just vibrated like a phone call(on silent with volume off). So did all 20 of my students in class. Not one sound from anyone's phone. Everyone got the alert.
As with most things I have no control over, the implementation was poorly done. A “TEST MESSAGE” should state that as the first thing. Big bold letters.....
THIS IS A TEST
I mean, "THIS IS A TEST" was literally the first four words of the message payload.
Well I can’t speak to that. I’m just saying that people shouldn’t complain about receiving the test message at all. It serves a purpose that is more important than a minor momentary inconvenience/annoyance.
Correction, it shouldn't be turned off, and it has no direct device setting for it but someone will eventually figure out a way to turn it off and I will definitely be one of those people trying.
You are supposed to be aware, and possibly follow any included instructions regarding evacuation, cover, etc.
These systems already exist for TV and radio, so this is just another avenue to reach people when necessary. In fact, this is the absolute best way, given the rise of “cord-cutting” and digital music services. Many people don’t watch live TV or listen to the radio anymore.
How can people possibly complain about this? I just don’t get it.
As for the surprise, it’s been all over the news for a while that this test was coming, scheduled for 2:18 pm EDT.
The discussion about an alert not being controllable and overriding settings is still a worthwhile one as it is something new and different basically.
Personally, I don't like any form of outside interference. I just live my life and that's it. I really don't care about these alerts.
Well, in the context of all of that, does the TV volume suddenly shoot up all the way and even gets off mute if you have that on when the alert comes on?
I was actually surprised that it went off on my iPhone X (which I use), and my iPhone XS (which has no SIM installed, and has been reset to factory, ready for return today). Now, it was on WiFi, and is at the home screen after skipping all of the setup steps. But other than the WiFi password, I did not set up anything at all. No SIM, no Apple ID, no Siri, not even Face ID or a passcode.
It made me wish I was at work at that time. I’d love to hear everyone’s phones going off all at all the same time, lol. Probably never get that chance again.
The first rule of silent president club is that you don't talk about silent president club...
Yes, tho obviously you missed the sarcasm. I totally understand the need and reasoning for it, but...
My point was this is supposed to be a free country so give people the option of turning it off. We are bombarded with notifications throughout the day but can turn all of them them off if we wanted to.
For example if this was active during hurricane/TS Florence I would be pissed as hell if it woke me up at 2 AM for the amount of winds/rain we got that didn’t cause anywhere near the expected flooding/wind damage per FEMA,the meteorologists and .gov sites.
Even 1 person's life saved from natural disaster/terrorist attack by warning > your slight inconvenience
Last edited: