At 12 o’clock on Wednesday, alarms sounded on phones across the country. Some receive notifications, but not all.

Henriette Magnussen, senior adviser at the Directorate of Social Security and Preparedness (DSB) tells VG that there could be several reasons why your phone isn’t ringing.

– That’s why we ran this test, he told VG.

On Wednesday at 12 o’clock, the authorities tested their new warning system, which is why cellphones are ringing, in addition to the civil defense which tested 1,200 siren systems.

Magnussen clarified that there could be a number of reasons why notifications weren’t received, but they don’t know exactly what those reasons are.

– As previous tests have shown, also from other countries, suggesting that it may have something to do with a software update on your phone.

He stressed that there were obviously other reasons for this, such as the fact that not all units can receive notifications.

On the DSB website it says that these units can receive emergency notifications:

• 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 updated with iOS 16.2 or later
• An Apple watch updated with watchOS 9.2 or later
• A smartwatch that uses wearOS

Magnussen said they had no information about who received the notification.

He said that he hoped that everyone who had not received the notification would report it to nodvarsel.no

Several VG reporters did not receive notifications, and a VG box tip indicated that there were many others who also did not experience the phone ringing.

Of those who received the alert, there was a “presidential alert” on the line. DSB told VG that this was also due to a phone software update.