Blue alert disable

How do I confirm 100 percent that I am turning off blue alerts only if I disable ‘public safety alerts’ under notifications?

I still want to see amber alerts and I still want emergency weather alerts but I fail to see why I need to be woken up in the middle of the night if a cop gets shot. I need absolute verification of what is included under ‘public safety alerts’ . Ultimately, I hope apple allows a consumer to be able to see a breakdown of what constitutes ‘public safety’.

iPhone 12 mini, 14

Posted on Aug 17, 2021 8:18 AM

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Posted on Aug 17, 2021 11:49 AM

I ended up doing the legwork to find the answer and I’m sharing images to help future readers. Blue alerts are indeed under the category of ‘public safety alerts’ according the the FEMA website. There appears to be no method as of now to option out of blue alerts like one can opt out of amber alerts. If one opts out of ‘public safety alerts’ so as to not be woken out of ones sleep if a police officer hundreds of miles away is hurt, you can expect to not be warned about the following situations: telephone outages and boil notices.

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Aug 17, 2021 11:49 AM in response to muguy

I ended up doing the legwork to find the answer and I’m sharing images to help future readers. Blue alerts are indeed under the category of ‘public safety alerts’ according the the FEMA website. There appears to be no method as of now to option out of blue alerts like one can opt out of amber alerts. If one opts out of ‘public safety alerts’ so as to not be woken out of ones sleep if a police officer hundreds of miles away is hurt, you can expect to not be warned about the following situations: telephone outages and boil notices.

Aug 17, 2021 9:29 AM in response to Nobluealerts

Here you go. It's not Apple, it's FEMA that categorizes the alerts:


  • Amber: AMBER is an acronym for "America's Missing Broadcast Emergency Response," which uses EAS to send vital details of very recent child abduction cases. These details could include a name or description of the abducted child, name or description of the abductor, license plate or description of the vehicle that child was last seen in, and more. In some cases, they could include a photo of the abductee, abductor, or car. These alerts are sent out as soon as possible to aid in recovering a missing or kidnapped child. Amber Alerts aren't just for children either — they can be sent out for any person's disappearance. And some lawmakers are trying to also include hit-and-runs in Amber Alerts.
  • Emergency: These alerts are for things considered imminent threats. The most frequent ones are for extreme weather conditions and life-threatening natural disasters, such as tornadoes, hurricanes, monsoons, earthquakes, wildfires, volcano eruptions, lightning storms, tsunamis, mudslides, extreme heat, and considerable or catastrophic flash floods. You'll also see these alerts used for human-made disasters, active shooters, and terrorist attacks.
  • Public Safety: These less-severe alerts are for threats that are not considered to cause imminent danger or for threats that occur after an imminent threat has happened. Examples include "shelter in place" advisories and "boil water" warnings. States and local governments are even using public safety alerts to issue important coronavirus pandemic messages, such as when high surges of COVID-19 cases happen in a specific area and where you could get tested.
  • Presidential: Out of all of the alerts listed, presidential alerts are the only ones you can never turn off and the ones most likely to be sent out on a national level instead of regionally. These alerts are issued by the President of the United States or a designee and are strictly for nationwide emergency events, such as a national terrorist attack or nuclear invasion.
  • Test: Government agencies and officials only use these alerts to check the functionality of any of the above types of alerts. These are opt-out, which you'll see below.


Aug 17, 2021 8:39 AM in response to muguy

I have already read this page and it does not tell me the specific differences between the three tabs listed under government alerts in the notifications section in my iPhone settings.

Amber alerts

Emergency alerts

Public Safety alerts

I would like the full breakdown of each one. (Although I am aware of what amber alerts are and am more than happy to keep that enabled at all times.)

what I really think is necessary is a complete transparent list of what is included under the last two tabs.



Aug 17, 2021 11:28 AM in response to Nobluealerts

I've never heard of a blue alert (whatever it is, we don't use it where I live). When you receive an alert the kind is also displayed as part of the header message -- The notification states the category of alert. So, you may have to wait for one to happen again, or simply turn them all off. But, whomever is initiating the alert may also change the category, so.....

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Blue alert disable

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