Not receiving emergency alerts

Thank you Katana-San. I did review that article already, but I appreciate the link. And I just tried toggling Airplane mode on and off as well.

I am not trying to discount KiltedTim; I am sure they are very knowledgeable. I did think I listed out the problem clearly, but maybe not. I’m starting to panic about this wildfire that is 6 miles away & there are 50mph gusts today, so that doesn’t help me be clear & concise. I’m sorry.

Here is the issue:

I am not receiving alerts from my county regarding the fire, but am receiving the occasional AMBER alerts, so some are coming through, just not the emergency alerts (WEA’s).

My husband IS receiving the fire alerts so I compared our settings; they are the same.

We both have iPhones (he has an 8, I have a 12) and are both on the same phone account.

I have toggled the emergency notifications off, force quit, waited then turned it back on & toggled them back on. Several times.

I called my wireless carrier, verified all the settings for emergency notifications are on.

I am not using a VPN.

I have googled multiple ways to fix this without luck and am hoping someone has some obscure fix that will work? Quite frankly, it makes no sense that it doesn’t work. And my panicking about this fire isn’t helping.

Anyway, I’m sure I’ve ticked everyone off and I’m sorry about that. I’ve never posted to one of the forums and don’t know the rules. At this point, I would delete it but I can’t do that so this post can just be buried if you all like.

Good questions, thank you.

Yes, we use the same cellular carrier. Yes, I just double-checked that I have all my location services enabled. No, I am not using a VPN.

Smart911 is a service user by the county we live in. It provides user info to emergency services in case of a call to 911. It also sends out messages in conjunction with our county. I’ve been signed up with them for several years and always received alerts via my iPhone. I had a iPhone6+, always received alerts. But I have yet to receive an alert on my iPhone12, which I’ve had for over a year.

Regardless of the Smart911 app, my husband is NOT signed up and is still receiving alerts. So I don’t think Smart911 has anything to do with not receiving alerts. (To cover my bases, I did remove, then re-enter my phone through the app. I then received a text signing up for alerts. But I still haven’t received any actual alerts, so I don’t think this has to do with the Smart911 app.)

KiltedTim, I hear you and I see where you’re coming from. Can we pls disregard that service? I only mentioned it as I was just trying to show that I’m trying to cover all my bases to make the notifications work.

to be clear: I am not receiving emergency notifications in a city that is actively sending them out. My husband is. We both have iPhones with the most recent iOS. All of my settings are the same as his. There is a large, active wildfire 8 miles from me and I REALLY need to get the notifications working. And I’m just trying to see if there’s an obscure setting on the iPhone I’m missing to fix this.

I’m not an tech newbie nor an expert. I’ve done all the things I know to do/googled to fix this, which is why I’m here. (For the first time, actually.)

Are there any other suggestions that you or anyone else has that could be helpful? Would really appreciate it as not getting the notifications myself & relying on my husband to let me know when he’s at work, is not ideal.

Welp…not the result I hoped for. I was leveled up to a higher Apple supervisor (Emma) and there is no resolution. She was extremely helpful and thorough. We troubleshooted absolutely everything, including resetting my actual phone.

Emma said say she did see on her end the “chatter” that this has been an issue in some instances but that the Apple engineers are thinking it’s an issue with the carrier since the carrier sends out the alerts.

I did already speak with them (my carrier is Verizon) & confirmed everything was set up for the alerts. But Emma has suggested I call back and speak with a supervisor since this is an issue of safety & imminent danger - which is the whole point of the alerts.

For what it’s worth, I did notice that on the post in the NextDoor app (the app I previously mentioned, which allows people in local neighborhoods to connect with each other) it wasn’t just Verizon phones having this issue, but AT&T & T-Mobile as well. Which makes it seem like it’s an issue with all of the carriers? Either way, it not just me.

I’m going to call Verizon again later, try to speak with a supervisor. I’ll post an update afterwards.

Duplicate

It isn’t related to Smart911. That’s more of a backup & I clearly shouldn't have mentioned it. My husband doesn’t have the Smart911 app and is still receiving notifications. To be doublely certain it isn’t related, I deleted the app so it’s a non-issue anyway.

The issue is with my iPhone.

(To clarify, when I went to delete the Smart911 app, I realized it isn’t an app, but a bookmark only. It was bookmarked several years ago and imported in when I switched to my new phone, which is why I forgot it was a bookmark. I was just going by the icons.)

First it’s the other service that’s the problem, now it’s my cellular carrier? I already contacted my cellular provider; we’re good there. One of the first things I did.

As I mentioned before, I am receiving AMBER alerts, so my carrier is clearly sending those. I’m also on the same carrier, same plan, same account as my husband, who IS receiving the emergency alerts about the fire.

I really think it’s a phone setting. Some obscure setting that I’m missing. Everything else checks out.

Can someone else respond besides this person??

At this point it just feels like I’m being patronized. As if it can’t possibly be a phone setting that’s the issue or have something against Apple. I have nothing against my phone or Apple; love them both!

I just need to get this sorted out asap. Does anyone else know anything that could help?

I thought I had done just that. Particularly in the June 12, 6:09 post, I listed all the ways I’ve tried to fix it.

I’m new here and doing the best I can. I thought this forum would be a good option for this as I had exhausted other efforts. I am also under a great deal of stress due to the nearby wildfire and possible evacuation.

I guess I did this all wrong. Won’t make that mistake again.

Update: this isn’t just my own random issue. I am part of the Nextdoor app and noticed quite a few people posting in my community that they are having the exact same problem. I don’t know exactly what that means as far as fixing it, but it isn’t just me. And since it’s not just me, I’m guessing it doesn’t have anything to do with our phones, but the source.

These other people have done similar things as me to fix the issue, but with no luck.

If I am able to get this resolved, I will post the explanation here.