Government, Emergency, and Enhanced Safety Alerts on Apple Watch

Learn how to receive and manage emergency, government, and enhanced safety alerts on your Apple Watch.

About Government and Emergency Alerts

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*

Manage your Government Alerts preferences

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. On your iPhone, open the Settings app, then tap Notifications.

2. Scroll to the 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.

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, open the Settings app, then tap 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:

   • 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, open the Settings app, then tap Notifications.

7. Turn on Test Alerts.

To turn Test Alerts off, either:

• Open the Settings app on your iPhone, then tap Notifications and turn off Test Alerts.

• Open the Settings app on your iPhone. Tap General, then tap Device Management and remove the profile.

About Enhanced Safety Alerts

Enhanced Alerts are available in the United States and Taiwan and require watchOS 26.2 or later.

Enhanced Safety Alerts can provide supplemental safety alerts for emergencies like earthquake alert warnings, or imminent threats like floods or fires, based on information from alert originators. These alerts are sent over Wi-Fi and cellular data when available, based on your current location. These alerts are delivered by Apple and will appear and sound different than a Government Alert sent by your local government.

If you enable Improve Alert Delivery, your approximate location is shared with Apple to improve alert timeliness and reliability. For example, Earthquake Alerts received on iPhone in California, Oregon, and Washington (including bordering regions) might be delivered quicker and more reliably when Improved Alert Delivery is turned on. An active cellular data plan is required for Improve Alert Delivery to be effective when your Apple Watch is not connected to a companion iPhone or Wi-Fi network. Apple does not store your approximate location data.

If Government Alerts are enabled and issued by your local authorities via carrier networks, your Apple Watch might receive them in addition to Enhanced Safety Alerts. With Improve Alert Delivery turned on, Enhanced Alerts may be delivered faster than Government Alerts.

About bi-level earthquake alerts

In the event of an earthquake, bi-level alerts use separate notifications based on the severity of the earthquake and your proximity to it:

• Awareness Alert: An awareness alert notifies you when an earthquake is detected nearby and that you should prepare to take action if necessary.

• Action Alert: An action alert is labeled as critical and notifies you when you're in an area where strong shaking is expected and should take immediate action.

Both alerts provide the estimated magnitude of the earthquake and your proximity to it, as well as suggested actions to keep yourself safe.

Manage your Enhanced Safety Alerts preferences

Earthquake Alerts and Imminent Threat Alerts are turned on by default, and Improve Alert Delivery is turned off by default. To adjust any of these settings:

1. On your iPhone, open the Settings app, then tap Notifications.

2. Scroll to the bottom of the screen.

3. Under Enhanced Alerts, tap Enhanced Safety Alerts.

4. Tap Earthquake Alerts, Imminent Threat Alerts, or Improve Alert Delivery to turn it off or on.

Learn more

• Learn how to set up emergency alerts for Japan.

• Learn about emergency and government alerts on iPhone.