DSB didn’t know how many phones were idle during the test

At 12 o’clock the flight alarm sounded in the country. At the same time, you should also receive notifications with sound, vibration and messages to your phone.

But many do not receive such notifications. Aftenposten has received a number of tips from people who had silent phones during testing. Many newspaper reporters were also not informed.

Press officer Henriette Magnussen at the Directorate of Social Security and Preparedness (DSB) said it was too soon to say anything about why people weren’t being told.

– We’ve seen in examples from other countries that this could be due to a lack of software updates, but it’s too early to tell.

DSB notifies in advance that this service requires you to update your software (see list a little further down).

Ask for feedback

He said the signals are sent as radio signals that are broadcast from cellular masts over 4G and 5G networks.

As a result, they have no idea who has or hasn’t received notifications.

– This is one of the reasons why we tested, says Magnussen.

Magnussen said the DSB would launch an investigation after the notification, which they hoped would provide more insight into how many people were tested. In addition, they ask the public to report errors via nodvarsel. no

According to the DSB, these units can receive an Emergency Alert:

• Android phone with Android 11 operating system or later
• Smartwatches and phones that have Android GO are supported from Android 13 and up
• An Apple phone that’s an iPhone 8 or later and that’s updated with iOS 16.2 or later. This version arrives in December 2022.
• Apple Watch updated with watchOS 9.2 or later
• Smartwatches using Wear OS (including watches from Samsung, Google, Fossil, and TicWatch)

Here’s what you need to know about the new notification system.

A quick check showed that some of the Aftenposten reporters who weren’t receiving messages had operating systems 16.1.1 or 16.1.2. This is despite the fact that the auto-update setting is on and 16.5 is ready. But it’s not updated.

SMS notify is not that fast

– Is it wise to set notifications of serious situations where so many users are excluded?

– Our mission is to establish a population warning based on Cell Broadcast technology, as a complement to existing forms of population warning, says Magnussen.

He emphasized that this is a standardized notification technology that has proven to be suitable for quick notifications of a large number of mobile phones.

– The technology for receiving emergency notifications is built into most modern cell phones, but must be activated by downloading updated software. We expect the number who can receive Emergency Alerts to increase as more people update their phones and old devices are replaced with new ones, he said.

He said the technology poses no challenges when it comes to privacy.

– Aren’t SMS notifications more accurate?

For notifications, Cell Broadcast is preferred over SMS as residents will know more quickly that they have received a notification because the phone will make a sound and the notification will appear in front of the screen. SMS isn’t suitable for quick notifications to multiple phones at once, says Magnussen.

Here’s the story: Here you can see people’s reactions emergency warning test on mobile June 14, 2023 during typhoon alarm ult.