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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Android Wi-fi Emergency Alerts now embody a map.
- The map reveals the affected space and your location.
- Not all alerts override quantity settings except you select to take action.
Android customers simply received a probably life-saving replace that makes their cellphone’s Wi-fi Emergency Alerts considerably extra helpful.
For those who’ve ever been jolted by a shrill alert a few harmful storm or a lacking youngster, what these alerts are. However you’ve got in all probability had your share of alerts a few extreme storm or twister watch, solely to look exterior and see blue sky.
The latest replace ought to make it a lot simpler to see if an alert impacts you.
Google hasn’t made an official announcement, however a changelog for the latest March 2026 system replace revealed that Wi-fi Emergency Alerts will now embody a map view, so you may see what space the alert is for and your location relative to that space.
As an alternative of seeing if the warning for “your space” is your neighborhood or the opposite facet of the county, 30 miles away, now you can see how shut you might be to the impacted space.
The right way to ensure you get life-saving climate alerts
By default, not all WEA notifications interrupt Do Not Disturb or different quantity settings. Google says that the “most important alerts” could sound at full quantity, however it does not clarify what essentially the most crucial alerts are and even then which alerts could or could not sound.
For those who by no means use DND mode and simply depart your cellphone on full quantity at evening, this would possibly not have an effect on you. However should you quiet your cellphone whilst you’re sleeping or at different occasions, it’s best to in all probability change this setting — particularly as we head into storm season within the US.
To prioritize alerts, head to Settings > Security & emergency > Wi-fi emergency alerts. Scroll all the best way down till you see “At all times alert at full quantity.” You may flip off sure classes of alerts, like AMBER alerts, should you’d relatively not be woken up in the course of the evening by these.
