Ask HN: How Do Emergency Alerts on Phone Work?

8 pointsrishikeshs23d ago4 comments

I’m now in UAE which is affected by war. Woke up to an alert yesterday night and was wondering how this works. Any good write ups on its technical side?

4 comments

WarOnPrivacy23d ago

     Delivery Method: WEA utilizes a one-to-many alert delivery service
     called SMS-Cell Broadcast (SMS-CB), rather than SMS Point-to-Point
     (SMS-PP). 

     SMS-Cell Broadcast (SMS-CB) is a method for sending short text messages
     simultaneously to multiple mobile phone users within a specific geographic
     area. It is a feature within the GSM (Global System for Mobile
     Communications) standard and is sometimes referred to as Cell Broadcast.

ref: https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/144000_144099/144012/07...

rishikeshsOP23d ago

Is this a universal standard? How does it override my phone’s volume!

Jeremy102623d ago

Typically there are laws dictating how emergency alerts have to be delivered, and your phone's OS will follow that. So "it" doesn't override your phone's volume. Your phone's OS will override it's volume when it receives the alert.

david_allison22d ago

Might as well start with the source code[0] and dig deeper:

* CMAS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Emergency_Alerts

* ETWS Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System

[0] https://cs.android.com/android/platform/superproject/main/+/...

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