Throughout any given day, or devices are constantly bombarded with nonstop notifications for everything from email and chat notifications to random reminders to check out a new game or an upcoming calendar event. And while many of those notifications are likely pertinent to your daily lives, there are some other types of notifications that could be even more important. You might not know this, but there are various “alerts” that can appear on your iPhone that come from your local or the federal government. Chances are, you already removed these alerts from appearing, but Apple is now adding a new “Test Alerts’ option to the mix. These are notifications that are sent by the government if you are “connected to a carrier in the United States — using a U.S. SIM or while roaming in the U.S. —.” And today, we’re going to take a look at how to enable Test Alerts on iPhone.
How to Enable Test Alerts on iPhone and Apple Watch
With the release of iOS 15.4, Apple finally made it much easier for you to control “test” or “government” alerts that may appear on your iPhone. These include things such as AMBER alerts or Public Safety alerts. Until now, the process for enabling these test alerts required you to enter a specific set of numbers into the dialer pad within the Phone app and press the Call button. Thankfully, that’s no longer the case, and here’s how you can enable Test Alerts on iPhone and Apple Watch.
Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
Tap Notifications.
Scroll all the way to the bottom until you reach Government Alerts.
Tap the toggle next to the following alert options:
AMBER Alerts
Public Safety Alerts
Test Alerts
If necessary, tap Emergency Alerts.
Tap the toggle next to Emergency Alerts to the On position.
We aren’t entirely sure why the ability to enable Emergency Alerts is found within a separate pane, as there are no other options besides the same toggle found on the main Notifications page. Perhaps this has something to do with a potential future update, but we’ll just have to wait and see if there are any other changes that arrive.
Additionally, if you want to enable test alerts on iPhone and Apple Watch, you just need to follow the steps above. Whenever one of the options are enabled from within the Settings app on your iPhone, the alerts will also appear on your Apple Watch. Currently, there is no option to have these alerts appear on just your Apple Watch, separate from your iPhone.
How to Enable Test Alerts for A Family Member’s Apple Watch
Thanks to watchOS 7, you can now set up an Apple Watch for a family member, even if they don’t have an iPhone. This gives people a way to use one of the best smartwatches without actually switching from Android to iOS, if they don’t want to. Chances are that their current phones already have the ability to enable test alerts, but they won’t be able to do so for the Apple Watch. Here’s how to enable Test Alerts for a family member’s Apple Watch:
On the iPhone that you used to set up your family member’s Apple Watch, download the Test Alerts profile.
When prompted, tap Allow providing the ability to install the profile.
If prompted, select Apple Watch to select the device that you want to install the profile on.
Open the Settings app.
Tap Profile Downloaded.
Tap Install.
Follow the on-screen instructions to finish installing the profile.
With the profile downloaded and installed, open the Settings app on your family member’s Apple Watch.
Tap Notifications.
Enable Test Alerts.
Now, they will receive any alerts that arrive for AMBER alerts, Public Safety alerts, Test Alerts, or Emergency Alerts right from their Apple Watch.
How to Enable Test Alerts on iPhone Running iOS 15.3 Or Earlier
Apple does a wonderful job at making sure that its massive customer base is always running the latest version of iOS. These updates are important, as they not only provide potential new features but are also equipped with bug fixes and security enhancements. However, in the event that your iPhone is still running iOS 15.3 or earlier, and you want to enable Test Alerts on iPhone, here’s how you can do so:
Open the Phone app on your iPhone.
Enter the following using the on-screen keypad:
*5005*25371#
Tap the Call button.
Right after you tap the Call button within the Phone app, a notification will appear that says “Test alerts enabled.” And if you want to turn off test alerts, follow these steps:
Open the Phone app on your iPhone.
Enter the following using the on-screen keypad:
*5005*25370#
Tap the Call button.
When the number is entered correctly, a notification will appear on your iPhone that says “Test alerts disabled.”
Andrew Myrick is a freelance writer based on the East Coast of the US. He enjoys everything to do with technology, including tablets, smartphones, and everything in between. Perhaps his favorite past-time is having a never-ending supply of different keyboards and gaming handhelds that end up collecting more dust than the consoles that are being emulated.
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