Every Phone in Australia Is About to Go Off | Dirt Report

What is happening on 27 July?

Australia is conducting a nationwide test of AusAlert, a new emergency warning system. Compatible mobile phones are expected to vibrate, light up and play a loud warning sound, including when silent mode or Do Not Disturb is enabled.

The test is scheduled for midday in Western Australia, 1:30 pm in South Australia and the Northern Territory, and 2 pm across the Eastern States. The sound should last longer than 10 seconds, and the message will identify itself as a test. Recipients do not need to take any action.

Why replace SMS-based emergency alerts?

Australia’s existing emergency alert system mainly sends individual SMS messages to phones believed to be located in an affected area. During a major disaster, large numbers of messages may need to travel through a network that is busy, damaged or overloaded. Messages can also arrive late, and people entering an affected area after the initial messages may not receive them.

AusAlert uses cell broadcast instead. An authorised emergency agency selects an area, such as a suburb, fire zone, group of towns or the whole country. Mobile networks then instruct relevant towers to broadcast the same message over a dedicated channel. Compatible devices listening within that coverage area can display the alert at essentially the same time.

What does the phone need to receive it?

Cell broadcast is built into the operating system of compatible phones, so the national test does not require an app, account, software installation or link. The phone receives the broadcast and displays it through its built-in emergency alert interface.

For critical alerts, the operating system can use a fixed warning sound and vibration and override normal silent or Do Not Disturb settings. The phone is following emergency-alert rules already built into its software; authorities are not remotely changing the device’s volume or settings.

A phone may receive an alert without a working SIM card if it can connect to an active and supported mobile network. However, devices that are older or unsupported, lack current software, are in airplane mode or are not connected to a suitable tower may miss the test. A switched-off phone will not sound.

Does AusAlert track phones?

The broadcast is sent to a mobile coverage area rather than individually addressed to named phone owners. According to the National Emergency Management Agency information described in the video, AusAlert does not collect or store a recipient’s phone number or location. It does not require access to GPS, contacts or an app.

The mobile network may already know which tower a device connects to as part of providing mobile service, but the AusAlert broadcast itself does not request a live personal location from every recipient. The system targets tower coverage rather than creating a list of individual phones.

Limitations and security questions

Cell broadcast does not provide perfectly precise geographic boundaries. Warning areas are described as having accuracy of around 160 metres, but radio coverage does not stop neatly at a line on a map. Phones near the edge of an alert area may receive different results depending on the tower, device and network involved.

AusAlert also cannot solve mobile black spots. It relies on active 4G and 5G networks, so a phone without usable tower coverage cannot receive the broadcast. Other sources, including local radio, television, emergency service apps, official websites and contact from neighbours, remain important parts of emergency communication.

Only authorised emergency services and government agencies are intended to issue alerts. This makes access controls and security important. Excessive or inaccurate critical alerts could also cause people to become less responsive to future warnings.