An Amber Alert issued late yesterday evening was a wake-up call to many iPhone users in Texas.
An alert was issued close to 10:45 last night for abducted children in San Angelo, Texas, 200 miles northwest of Austin. An Amber Alert was then sent to iPhone users in Austin – which was announced with a loud, jarring tone.
The alert sent many iPhone users to Twitter to register their shock. Here’s some tweets from the Austin area:
Just got my first Amber alert on my iPhone. Wow. Loud and terrifying sound. Got my attention.
— Mark Stephan (@mstephan) July 29, 2013
#AmberAlert on my #iPhone just scared me to death... Since when did that start?
— Matt Mahrer (@mattmahrer) July 29, 2013
It was the first Amber Alert many Texans had received on their iPhones. An automatic iPhone update AT&T recently issued for the iPhone 4s and 5 includes notification options for three types of messages:
- Presidential alerts: The highest level of alert category, reserved only for truly catastrophic, world-threatening situations. Thankfully, no presidential alert has ever been issued.
- Emergency alerts: Notifications issued in time of extreme weather, natural disasters or man-made emergencies.
- Amber Alerts: Messages regarding missing and abducted children, targeted by area.
By default, AT&T’s update has users receiving all alerts. iPhone users can turn off Amber Alerts and emergency alerts by changing their Notifications settings. (Presidential alerts cannot be turned off.)
And by the way: the Amber Alert was canceled soon after it was issued, with the children found safe.
Editor's Note: This post has been clarified to state the "Government Alert" notifications only appear on iPhone 4s and 5 models.
