Silence those klaxons by disabling emergency alerts on your Samsung Galaxy

Before I begin this how-to, I want to start by saying that Amber and emergency alerts play a vital role in spreading public safety and security announcements, and these are essential communications. Acting quickly on locating injured or missing children or elderly is also vital. That being said, I am human, and I can acknowledge that there have been occasions where I really couldn’t be interrupted (especially by a blaring horn sound), or I was already aware of the safety issue in question. Here’s how to disable or silence Amber and emergency alerts on your Samsung Galaxy phone for those times when you need just a bit of respite from those blaring klaxons.

How to disable Amber and emergency alerts on your Galaxy

Note: To disable emergency alerts on a Samsung Galaxy phone, you’ll need first to make sure that you have Samsung Messages set as your default SMS app. If you do not, you’ll need first to make that switch, then follow the steps below. Then you can switch back to your favorite default messaging app if you wish to (if it’s not Samsung Messages).

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap on Apps.
3. Search for the Messages app (Samsung Messages).
4. Tap on the gear icon to access Message settings.
5. Tap on Notifications.

6. Toggle off Emergency alerts.

   

You can also get to these settings from the Samsung Messages app.

1. Open the Samsung Messages app.
2. Tap on the three-dot menu in the middle right of the screen.
3. When the context menu pops-up, tap on Settings.

4. Then follow the steps outlined above in the previous section.

   

Keep in mind that these steps will disable all emergency alerts (aside from Presidential alerts, which cannot be disabled).

If you do decide to disable or silence Amber and emergency alerts on your phone, I encourage you to make this a temporary measure and to stay alert and pay attention to public safety announcements and news bulletins. You can just silence the audio or vibration alerts while still getting the notifications and staying informed. Here’s how to do that.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap on Apps.
3. Search for the Messages app (Samsung Messages).
4. Tap on the gear icon to access Message settings.

5. Tap on Emergency alert settings.

   

6. Toggle on/off Alert sound.
7. Toggle on/off Vibrate when sound plays.
8. Tap on Alert reminder to receive reminders at a later time.
9. Tap on Emergency alerts at the top of the screen.

10. Toggle on/off which emergency alerts you wish to receive (I recommend leaving these all on).

    

Our top equipment picks

If your Samsung Galaxy phone is feeling a little long in the tooth, check out Samsung’s awesome trade-in program and grab what we think is the best phone of 2020 to date.

Best in the Galaxy

Galaxy S20+

$1200 at Samsung

Setting the bar high for flagships in 2020

With robust hardware and a versatile camera that offers 30x hybrid zoom, the Galaxy S20+ stands tall over other flagships. You’re getting incredible hardware in just about every area, and when you factor in the 120Hz panel and 5G connectivity, the S20+ becomes the obvious choice.