(CNN) If you have a cell phone, it probably buzzed and beeped loudly Wednesday afternoon around 2:18 p.m. ET.
"Presidential Alert," the screen said. "THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed."
It's the first nationwide test of the system built by the federal government and cell phone carriers to warn Americans of an emergency, like a terror attack or a widespread disaster.
We've seen Amber Alerts for missing children and weather alerts for incoming thunderstorms or tornadoes. The presidential alert is like those, only it goes to virtually every cell phone in the country, and you can't turn it off.
What is this?
The federal government has long had a system to issue alerts over television and radio. It has grown more sophisticated since it was created in the 1950s, and now includes a system to send warnings to cell phones, too. (The TV and radio system is tested monthly.)
The buzz and tone have the same feel and sound as those used for the Amber and weather alerts.
The system is run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which says all of the country's major cell phone carriers participate.
The test was originally scheduled for September but was postponed as FEMA responded to Hurricane Florence. The law behind the cell phone notification system, which was passed in 2016, requires FEMA to run a test at least every three years.
Is it a message from President Trump?
It's called the "presidential alert," but the President doesn't actually write it.
Instead, FEMA officials confer with other government agencies and the White House, select one of several pre-written messages, customize the message to fit the particular emergency and send it out.
"The President will not originate this alert, say, from his mobile device," a senior FEMA official told reporters on Tuesday. "You would not have a situation where any sitting president would wake up one morning and attempt to send a particular message."
Then who pushes the button?
If you're picturing a red button inside a glass box or a fire-alarm-style handle on the wall -- this isn't that.
FEMA officials use a device that's "very similar to a laptop computer," the senior FEMA official said. After filling in the message form, two other FEMA officials are asked to sign off on the alert -- a system designed to prevent false alarms, like the incorrect alert of an incoming missile that roused and terrified people in Hawaii earlier this year.
"Everything is secured, password-protected and then authenticated or checked by two people before that message is sent," the official said.
Can I silence my phone or turn off the alert?
Unlike the Amber and weather alerts, the presidential alert can't be turned off.
Because the message is meant to include "critical lifesaving information," it's designed to reach as many cell phones as possible, even those that aren't activated or don't have SIM cards.
The FEMA official said that in past, smaller tests, about 75% of phones received the alert. If a phone is off, or on a call at the time of the alert, the message many not come through.
What about the other screens in my life?
If you were looking at another piece of glowing glass -- like your television -- during the test, you may have seen the alert there, too.
Here's what you may have seen on TV or heard on the radio: "THIS IS A TEST of the National Emergency Alert System. This system was developed by broadcast and cable operators in voluntary cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Communications Commission, and local authorities to keep you informed in the event of an emergency. If this had been an actual emergency an official message would have followed the tone alert you heard at the start of this message. A similar wireless emergency alert test message has been sent to all cell phones nationwide. Some cell phones will receive the message; others will not. No action is required."
The message was also scheduled to appear on some smartwatches connected to cell phones, FEMA said.
What about my privacy?
The FCC said it does not collect data based on the test, though it will ask cell service providers for feedback about how the test went.
Beginning at 2:18 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, Americans across the country were interrupted by an urgent notification on their cellphones.
“Presidential Alert,” the message read. “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”
Blasted out by cell towers nationwide over a 30-minute period, the message was expected to reach some 225 million people in an unprecedented federal exercise.
Wednesday’s test of the Wireless Emergency Alerts system is the first time that emergency management officials have used the nationwide alerting capabilities reserved for the office of the president.
Reactions to the alert were swift. #PresidentialAlert became a trending topic on Twitter, where some said the message interrupted their matinee movie showings. Others reported getting the notifications pushed to their smartwatches, as still others took the opportunity to crack jokes. Some said they had received the notification repeatedly, some as often as three to nine times.
Came through, buzzed like mad and also pushed to my Apple Watch. Was kind of annoying. I survived. — Trent Moore (@trentlmoore) October 3, 2018
A number of iPhone users on AT&T’s network — including this reporter — did not receive the notification until they had rebooted their smartphones.
@FCC That is exactly what happened to me. On ATT in NOVA near Dulles. Reboot and the EAS came through. — Richard Shockey (@rshockey101) October 3, 2018
FEMA, AT&T and Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter.
Many cellphone users may be familiar with alerts they receive as warnings about flash flooding or missing children. But those emergency weather alerts and AMBER alerts can only be sent on a regional or statewide basis, not nationally and all at once.
[Confused about those emergency cellphone alerts? Here’s how they work.]
The presidential alert is designed to let the White House inform the entire country almost instantly of grave public emergencies, such as a terrorist attack or an invasion, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. And while Americans can choose not to receive weather and AMBER alerts, they cannot opt out of presidential ones.
Not everyone was pleased about the decision to send out the test alert. Minutes before the alert was sent out, a federal judge in New York rejected a lawsuit by three people who claimed that the presidential alert violated the First and Fourth Amendments, because Americans could not opt out. The judge explained her decision by saying the claims were too speculative, according to the Associated Press, and that it was motivated by concerns that President Trump sought to turn the wireless emergency alert system into “a second Twitter feed.”
Despite its name, the presidential alert was not issued by President Trump directly. But in general, the process calls for the president — or his representative — to authorize FEMA to send an alert on the White House’s behalf.
📳 TODAY (10/3): At 2:18 PM EDT, we will be testing the Wireless Emergency Alert system nationwide. Expect a message box on your phone along with a loud tone and vibration.
Questions? Visit https://t.co/Op8T9AEpiF pic.twitter.com/cCXJGGObPP — FEMA (@fema) October 3, 2018
Before a presidential alert shows up on cellphones, it must be routed to wireless carriers, such as AT&T and Verizon, through an online system called the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, or IPAWS.
The cellphone alert is also accompanied by a similar test of the Emergency Alert System, an older system that handles radio and television.
The federal government is required by law to test its alerting systems every three years. FEMA last tested the EAS in 2016 and 2017, and the first wireless emergency alerts were sent in 2012.
Not all cellphones may have received Wednesday’s alert, however. If you weren’t in range of a cell tower or if your phone was switched off, you probably missed the message. That was expected to be the case for only about a quarter of the nation’s cellphones.
That three out of four phones probably received the warning is a reflection of our always-on, technologically connected times. Yet the same technology that has helped connect millions of people also has the potential to cause chaos at Internet speeds.
In January, America’s emergency management technologies made headlines when a state-level official mistakenly sent an alert to Hawaii residents warning them of an inbound ballistic missile attack. The report was false, but it sent Hawaiians scrambling for cover, seeking shelter in gymnasiums, mountain bunkers and even in manholes.
A subsequent investigation by the Federal Communications Commission found that the staffer responsible for the message had thought an attack was truly underway, having misinterpreted a drill.
FEMA officials have said the Hawaii incident played no role in the scheduling of Wednesday’s test.
At 2:18 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, cellphones across the United States emitted the ominous ring of an emergency presidential alert.
It was the first nationwide test of a wireless emergency alert system, designed to warn people of a dire threat, like a terror attack, pandemic or natural disaster.
“THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System,” it read. “No action is needed.”
Two minutes later, televisions and radios broadcast test alerts. There was no notification plan for landlines.
The president — or someone he designates — would make the decision to send a real alert in case of a nationwide catastrophe, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency would push the button.
Anyone who hasn’t heard about today’s presidential alert test is going to be startled by a loud noise on their phone this afternoon. Here are all the details on FEMA’s emergency alert tests that you’ll be seeing soon.
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The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is conducting a test of two related systems designed to alert people to significant emergencies:
Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) for cellphones
Emergency Alert System (EAS) for broadcast media
What?
WEA is designed to alert people to anything from dangerous weather to missing children believed to have been abducted (the latter known as AMBER alerts). The message is sent directly to cellphones.
Today’s WEA test will be of a presidential alert, and will look like this:
Presidential Alert THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.
The EAS is designed as a presidential broadcast system, allowing the president to address the nation during a national emergency. It will be broadcast on most radio and television stations, and will last for approximately one minute. The message will be:
THIS IS A TEST of the National Emergency Alert System. This system was developed by broadcast and cable operators in voluntary cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Communications Commission, and local authorities to keep you informed in the event of an emergency. If this had been an actual emergency an official message would have followed the tone alert you heard at the start of this message. A similar wireless emergency alert test message has been sent to all cell phones nationwide. Some cell phones will receive the message; others will not. No action is required.
When?
The WEA presidential alert test is scheduled for 2:18pm EDT/11:18am PDT. It may be received up to 30 minutes later than this – see below.
The EAS test will begin two minutes later, at 2:20pm EDT/11:20am PDT.
The test was originally meant to happen on September 20, but was postponed to avoid distracting resources from FEMA’s response efforts to Hurricane Florence.
Where?
Both tests are nationwide, so should be received by everyone in the USA with coverage. It is the first ever nationwide test of the WEA, which has previously only been used on a local or regional basis.
How?
The WEA message is transmitted through cell towers. Unlike a text message, it will display whether or not you have notifications enabled, and you cannot opt out of receiving it.
Why?
FEMA says that the test ‘will assess the operational readiness of the infrastructure for distribution of a national message and determine whether improvements are needed.’
One element of the test will be determining how long it takes people to receive the message. Although broadcasts begin at a specific time, you may not receive the message immediately – or at all. The broadcast will continue for 30 minutes, but you should only receive a single alert.
There’s a presidential alert test FAQ with additional information available here.
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