About government and emergency alerts on Apple Watch

Learn how to turn on emergency, government, and public safety alerts on your Apple Watch.

You can receive emergency, government, and public safety alerts on your Apple Watch. In the event of an emergency, here's what you might see:

  • Alerts issued by your country or region's government

  • Alerts involving imminent threats to safety or life

  • Alerts for extreme weather conditions

  • AMBER alerts (America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response)*

  • Public Safety Alerts*

* AMBER alerts and Public Safety Alerts aren't available in all countries or regions.

Turn Government Alerts on or off

By default, Government Alerts are turned on for your device.1 When you receive a government alert, you hear a special sound that's similar to an alarm. If you want to turn these alerts on or off, follow these steps:

  1. Go to Settings > Notifications on your iPhone.

  2. Scroll to the very bottom of the screen.

  3. Under Government Alerts, turn the type of alert on or off.2 When you turn on an alert for your iPhone, it's also turned on for your Apple Watch.

1. Government Alerts are supported when using a SIM card from a supported carrier. Your Apple Watch can receive these alerts if your iPhone can receive them and is nearby, or your Apple Watch is on a Wi-Fi network. With a cellular plan from a supported carrier, your Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS + cellular) or later can receive these alerts without your iPhone nearby. For more information, contact your carrier.

2. In some countries or regions, you may not be able to disable Government Alerts.

Choose to receive Test Emergency Alerts on your Apple Watch in the United States

When your iPhone is connected to a carrier in the United States — using a U.S. SIM or while roaming in the U.S. — you can enable Test Emergency Alerts that can also appear on your Apple Watch. Your Apple Watch with cellular can also receive these alerts when you're not near your iPhone.

By default, this is turned off. When you receive this type of alert, you'll hear a sound that's similar to an alarm, and the alert will mention that it's a test.

Government test alerts are available with U.S. carriers, including Puerto Rico. Your local government is responsible for the content and the frequency of the test alerts. You can disable this feature anytime with the following steps. For more information, contact your carrier.

How to turn on Test Alerts on your Apple Watch

  1. Make sure that your iPhone has the latest version of iOS. For these steps, you need iOS 15.6 or later.

  2. On your iPhone, go to Settings > Notifications.

  3. Turn on Test Alerts. This also turns on Test Alerts for your Apple Watch.

Turn on Test Alerts for an Apple Watch you set up for a family member

If you set up an Apple Watch for a family member, you can use your iPhone to turn on Test Alerts for their watch:

  1. Make sure that the Apple Watch has the latest version of watchOS. For these steps, you need watchOS 8.4 or later.

  2. On the iPhone that you used to set up the Apple Watch, download the Test Alerts profile:

  3. Tap Allow. If you're asked to choose the device that you want to install the profile on, choose Apple Watch.

  4. Open the Settings app, then tap Profile Downloaded.

  5. Tap Install. Follow the onscreen instructions to finish installing the profile.

  6. After the profile is installed, on the Apple Watch, go to Settings > Notifications.

  7. Turn on Test Alerts.

To turn Test Alerts off, either:

  • Go to Settings > Notifications and turn off Test Alerts.

  • Go to Settings > General > Device Management and remove the profile.

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