All mobile phone owners in Germany will be informed via SMS about the new disaster warning system cell broadcast in the coming days.
This was announced by the mobile phone providers Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom and Telefónica (O2).
The providers' explanations relate to the planned nationwide warning day on December 8th, on which the new warning system is to be tested for the first time in all 294 administrative districts and 107 urban districts in Germany.
With the system, messages like broadcast signals are sent to all compatible devices that are registered in a cell - hence the name cell broadcast.
In contrast to other warning systems such as Nina or Katwarn, you don't need an app to be alerted.
You also don't need to open a notification app to read SMS, since the warning text appears on the screen without any additional application.
When the warning text arrives, a loud acoustic signal also sounds.
More reliable warning in case of disasters
The reason for the introduction of cell broadcast in Germany was the severe storm in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate in July 2021, which killed over a hundred people.
The flood disaster had shown that the warning apps and classic sirens were not sufficient to warn the population of the danger across the board.
Cell broadcast is already in use in other EU countries.
After the accident in the Ahr Valley and other affected areas, a discussion ignited as to why the introduction of cell broadcast is taking so long.
However, the legislator had given the providers and smartphone manufacturers involved a deadline of February 2023 to technically implement the warning system.
In order for people in Germany to be able to receive the warnings, a mobile phone or smartphone that is compatible with Cell Broadcast must be switched on and ready to receive.
With smartphones from Apple, the alert system will work with all devices from the iPhone 6s and upwards, as long as their operating system is up to date (currently iOS 16.1 or 15.7.1 and 15.6.1).
Devices with the Google Android operating system are compatible from Android version 11 onwards.
However, an estimated third of all Android smartphones are running an older version that cannot receive a cell broadcast.
With some devices, cell broadcast reception still has to be activated manually.
On the iPhone, you can find the settings via the “Notifications” menu item at the very bottom in the “Cell Broadcast Alerts” section.
On Android devices, settings are usually found via a submenu like "Security & Emergency" in the Settings menu.
Depending on the manufacturer, the section for switching the message on and off is called "Wireless emergency alerts" or "Emergency notifications for mobile devices".