People with secret ‘safe phones’ advised to turn off devices during national test of AusAlert emergency warning

Some older phones may not receive the AusAlert emergency warning on Monday. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP View image in fullscreen Some older phones may not receive the AusAlert emergency warning on Monday. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP People with secret ‘safe phones’ advised to turn off devices during national test of AusAlert emergency warning Ten-second ‘siren’ to blare on most phones on Monday as part of national test despite reservations from some states An unsilenceable siren will blare out of most phones in Australia on Monday afternoon for ten seconds, with the federal government confirming a national test of the new AusAlert emergency alert will go ahead despite reservations from some state governments. Domestic violence campaigners and the National Emergency Management Agency have also repeated advice that people who may have secret ‘safe phones’, kept hidden for personal safety reasons, may want to turn off their devices for up to 24 hours after the test scheduled for 2pm (AEST) on Monday. AusAlert, built after recommendations from the royal commission into the ‘black summer’ bushfires for a better national warning system, is slated to come into effect from October. Most phones and some smartwatches and tablets will emit a loud siren for 10 seconds, and receive a test alert notification pop-up. The federal government says AusAlert is an improvement on current SMS-based alerts, which can be less reliable in disasters. But ahead of an emergency services ministers’ meeting on Wednesday, concerns emerged from several states, including Queensland and Western Australia, that AusAlert warnings would not reach landline phones, older devices or those connected to satellite signals. Federal emergency management minister Kristy McBain said AusAlert was working to add voice alerts to reach landlines, and that the existing Emergency Alert system would continue running for this year while that capability was added. Federal government sources told Guardian Australia they were confident that would be confirmed soon. Sources said they were listening to concerns from state governments, and were comfortable with progress on AusAlert, but that states would not be forced to use the new system and could still use current Emergency Alerts. “It’s one of the reasons those two systems will run alongside each other for this high-risk weather season,” McBain said. McBain called AusAlert “more capable” and “far superior” technology. “The 2020 bushfire royal commission into national natural disaster arrangements highlighted the fact that we don’t have a system that is capable of resilience currently, that it has its failings and that we do need to move towards a nationally consistent alert system so that people know what to expect,” she said. Some older phones may not receive the alert on Monday. Nema said the alert will go to: iPhones 11 and up running iOS 26.4 or later; Apple Watch SE2, SE3, Series 6 and up running watchOS 26.4 or later; and Android devices running