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Public emergency alerts to be sent to all UK smartphones on 23rd April

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  • mebu60
    mebu60 Posts: 1,646 Forumite
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    Sarahspangles said:
    Le_Kirk said:
    RumRat said:
    Le_Kirk said:
    RumRat said:
    Le_Kirk said:
    One minute early but why was it an American voice?
    Because that's what your phone is set to?...Mine was a rather nice lady from the Home Counties (Possibly)...
    My phone is not "set to" anywhere.
    Probably why you got an American.....It's always set to somewhere, usually the US by default..
    How does one "set" one's phone please?
    On iPhones it’s General Settings - Language & Region and on Android it’s Settings - System - Languages.  Look for English (UK)
     
    My Android is English (UK) and I had a disembodied female American voice. 

    I'm only Android 8 on a phone >7 yrs old so surprised I received anything at all! 
  • GDB2222
    GDB2222 Posts: 26,278 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    I really don’t know why people want to switch this off? There’s been one test. There might be another one day. How awful is that? 
    No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?
  • MikeyPGT
    MikeyPGT Posts: 535 Forumite
    500 Posts Third Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    GenieBoy said:
    Are you one of those folks who always puts their bin out on the usually day after a bank holiday when collection day is a day later?

    Or do you need a reminder if it's black bin or green bin this week?
    I signed up to reminders because we've moved on to three weekly black bag collections which are on a different day to the recycling collections.  Old folks like me sometimes get a bit confused!
    Debt Free Wannabe by 1 December 2027

    Satisfied customer of Octopus Agile - past savings on average 33% of standard tarrif

    Deep seated hatred of Scottish Power and all who sail in her - would love to see Ofgem grow a pair and actually do something about it.
  • Sarahspangles
    Sarahspangles Posts: 3,239 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    mebu60 said:
    Sarahspangles said:
    Le_Kirk said:
    RumRat said:
    Le_Kirk said:
    RumRat said:
    Le_Kirk said:
    One minute early but why was it an American voice?
    Because that's what your phone is set to?...Mine was a rather nice lady from the Home Counties (Possibly)...
    My phone is not "set to" anywhere.
    Probably why you got an American.....It's always set to somewhere, usually the US by default..
    How does one "set" one's phone please?
    On iPhones it’s General Settings - Language & Region and on Android it’s Settings - System - Languages.  Look for English (UK)
     
    My Android is English (UK) and I had a disembodied female American voice. 

    I'm only Android 8 on a phone >7 yrs old so surprised I received anything at all! 
    I guess that it’s up to the phone manufacturer whether they build something in at all, we didn’t have any announcements (but my phone is normally set to vibrate only so maybe it suppressed it but not the alarm).  And then only a subset will bother having different English announcements for different continents.
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  • MikeyPGT
    MikeyPGT Posts: 535 Forumite
    500 Posts Third Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    BlobCore said:
    Had mine at 14:59. Then the Welsh language version some 5 minutes later. Wonder if there’s a delay in translation but I’ll hold off on any comments about regional priorities…
    Certainly wasn't delayed in order to check that the translation was actually correct ...

    I didn't look at the text until later but looks like they both came in at 14.59 on my giffgaff iphone
    Debt Free Wannabe by 1 December 2027

    Satisfied customer of Octopus Agile - past savings on average 33% of standard tarrif

    Deep seated hatred of Scottish Power and all who sail in her - would love to see Ofgem grow a pair and actually do something about it.
  • facade
    facade Posts: 7,627 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    GDB2222 said:
    I really don’t know why people want to switch this off? There’s been one test. There might be another one day. How awful is that? 

    I can see why you'd want to switch off an American voice reading it out though! :)

    The only one of the phone here that actually worked just squealed for a few seconds.
    Then when I touched the ok button, or whatever it said, the message disappeared never to be found again.

    I'm guessing this is for deniability, "what message about running for the hills? Prove you got one"

    I couldn't remember a word of the message 5 seconds after I touched that button, best write it down if we get a real one ;)
    I want to go back to The Olden Days, when every single thing that I can think of was better.....

    (except air quality and Medical Science ;))
  • molerat
    molerat Posts: 34,642 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Mine is showing in Emergency alerts history
  • oldernonethewiser
    oldernonethewiser Posts: 2,443 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    GDB2222 said:
    I really don’t know why people want to switch this off? There’s been one test. There might be another one day. How awful is that? 

    Apart from those who were advised to switch it off, which you may well have seen, there are those who are not bothered about receiving such notifications and don't wan't to be troubled by them.


    Individual choice.
    Things that are differerent: draw & drawer, brought & bought, loose & lose, dose & does, payed & paid


  • prowla
    prowla Posts: 14,012 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I couldn't really see the point of alerting people (and with a siren), as anything that merited a full-scale immediate alert would likely be too late anyway.
    However, I did hear someone in the US say it was used there for child abductions, so that might be of value; however, if it was the usual wait 48 hours, that'd be pretty useless .
  • RumRat
    RumRat Posts: 5,019 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Le_Kirk said:
    RumRat said:
    Le_Kirk said:
    RumRat said:
    Le_Kirk said:
    One minute early but why was it an American voice?
    Because that's what your phone is set to?...Mine was a rather nice lady from the Home Counties (Possibly)...
    My phone is not "set to" anywhere.
    Probably why you got an American.....It's always set to somewhere, usually the US by default..
    How does one "set" one's phone please?
    Which phone? Generically, check in the settings and check the language section.
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    Not an Alcoholic...!
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