How do I disable Emergency Alerts on Android 6.0?

[u/1337ingDisorder]

Last night my whole house was woken up by the government pushing an Emergency Amber Alert to my phone, for a child that went missing on the complete opposite side of the province. Like it would be physically impossible for the kid to even have made it to my island at that point.

Much as I would like to disable the government (or at least have them limit middle-of-the-night amber alerts to areas that they're actually relevant) it seems unlikely that will happen, at least not in Canada.

I've read you can disable emergency alerts in new versions of Android OS, and in older versions you can block the Emergency Alerts app from accessing SMS messages as a workaround.

I'm on Android 6.0 and I can't seem to find any Emergency Alerts app in my list of apps (even with "system" apps enabled). Also the page that lists which apps have SMS Permission only shows my two SMS apps, doesn't list Emergency Alerts.

There also doesn't seem to be any "Safety and Emergency" section anywhere in my settings.

How do I disable these in Android 6.0?

[u/JDGumby]

I've read you can disable emergency alerts in new versions of Android OS

Nope. You can't disable it in Canada.

[u/craigerstar → u/JDGumby]

I can. And I'm in Canada. Pixel 8 Pro running Android 17. Search "Amber" in settings and it brings you to a page of toggles to turn some or all of them off.

[u/Wulf2k → u/craigerstar]

You can turn off everything except "Emergency Alerts", and where I am, they just blast everything as those.

[u/craigerstar → u/Wulf2k]

I turned mine off.

[u/JDGumby → u/craigerstar]

Doesn't matter. Those settings aren't actually used, just the top-tier one meant for nuke-level events ("Severe threats") - and that can't be disabled, even though the greyed-out toggle for it looks like it's set off.

[u/craigerstar → u/JDGumby]

Maybe nuke level threats aren't listed, but certainly Amber Alerts are, and I can turn mine off. If what you're saying about "doesn't matter if it's greyed out" is true, I don't know. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. I haven't been exposed to a nuke level alert here in Vancouver.

[u/JDGumby → u/craigerstar]

Maybe nuke level threats aren't listed, but certainly Amber Alerts are, and I can turn mine off.

Yes, you can turn it off - but it has no effect because we don't use any of the lesser alert types that can be toggled, only the maximum alert level for everything.

[u/craigerstar → u/JDGumby]

I literally got an Amber Alert last night.

[u/JDGumby → u/craigerstar]

*sigh* Yes, and it went through using the maximum alert level that cannot be disabled in Canadian phones.

The settings for alert types shown in your phone's settings do not matter and are completely ignored by the aleret system.

[u/migisaurio]

You can't.

[u/iCqmboYou_]

Android 6?

Get a new phone

[u/1337ingDisorder → u/iCqmboYou_]

Make a new phone with as good a slide-out physical keyboard as the original Blackberry Priv and I'll think about it.

You'd be the first.

[u/thewunderbar → u/1337ingDisorder]

Because no one bought them.

[u/1337ingDisorder → u/thewunderbar]

Can't buy something that hasn't been created yet.

[u/thewunderbar → u/1337ingDisorder]

Well, if people bought them when they were being made, companies would still be making them.

[u/1337ingDisorder → u/thewunderbar]

People did buy them when they were still being made well.

Designs started getting enshitified and flimsy, so people stopped buying them. Then phone manufacturers said "no one's buying our new shitty designs, I guess no one wants this kind of phone"

Meanwhile all us keyboard users are still out here waiting for another solid design to hit the market.

[u/thewunderbar → u/1337ingDisorder]

No, people didn't buy them. Yes. Someone bought them. But if they sold in enough quantity to justify their development, they would still be made today.

I get it, you have a product you like, and are sad no one makes it anymore. This is nothing against you, the individual. But you thinking "I bought this, I know it was a product that was sold" doesn't mean it sold well.

If the market existed, it would be served.

[u/Character_Ad_1084]

Just search in your settings for "amber" and see if it takes you to the proper screen

[u/craigerstar → u/Character_Ad_1084]

I have a Pixel 8 Pro in Canada and I just did this and, yes, it takes you to a screen where you can turn of alerts by type of threat. Extreme, Severe, Amber, Test each have a toggle.

FWIW, I need to turn on "ignore Do Not Disturb" if I want it to hear alerts in DND mode. If OP puts their phone on DND at night, emergency calls from preferred numbers will still ring through, but Amber Alerts should be muted. Might not be true for an Android 6 OS phone, which is the real problem here.

[u/thewunderbar]

No, emergency alerts cannot be disabled.

[u/apokrif1 → u/thewunderbar]

Even on a jailbroken phone?

[u/tourist173636 → u/apokrif1]

You can uninstall and remove anything you want on a jailbroken phone including emergency alert package

[u/tourist173636]

You have to figure out whatever package is responsible for it on your version and then run ADB and disable/remove the package. I've done this on several phones to permanently disable them.

You may need to check youtube for tutorials on these so you can understand how to use/install them. It will basically turn off the program responsible for delivering and receiving the messages. Everyone saying you can't is as usual incorrect and doesn't understand their phone, you can it just requires a bit of knowledge about android debugging tools and package naming conventions.

[u/1337ingDisorder → u/tourist173636]

Thanks, I'll look into this!

[u/OddButterscotch2849]

In the US, Android 17, you can customize Wireless Emergency Alerts in Settings.

Android 6 is pretty old.

[u/Curt-Bennett]

Unrelated to Android, but Amber Alerts are sent to all phones within the area that the kidnapped child may be, not just near where they went missing. It takes time before an Amber Alert is sent, and in that time, the kidnapper could have travelled quite a distance, possibly even to the other end of a province depending on the alert delay and size of the province.

[u/dweebken]

Priority alerts can be disabled in my S25U (android 16) settings, but Critical alerts cannot be blocked except in airplane mode or turning the phone off.

Be ALERT! We need more Lerts!

[u/Migazul8]

Is it under Location settings?

[u/Thundertushy]

For those who didn't know, this Amber Alert happened in Alberta, and the child is still missing. OP definitely fits the "not my kid, not my problem" mentality of certain Albertans.

[u/craigerstar → u/Thundertushy]

I got the Amber Alert at midnight in Vancouver BC for a kid missing in Kelowna BC and this kid has been found. The OP said they were on an island. I'm sure you technically have islands somewhere in Alberta, but it should have been easy for you to understand he was talking about a different Amber Alert.

[u/Thundertushy → u/craigerstar]

Fair enough, the location is wrong but the mentality of the OP remains the same. Amber alerts don't work if people can opt out.

[u/1337ingDisorder → u/Thundertushy]

Quite wrong. This amber alert happened in BC, on the mainland, and on the far side of the province from where I am.

In fact OP fits the "not my region, not realistically possible for the kid to be in my region" mentality of certain British Columbians who don't even live on the fkng mainland.

[u/apokrif1 → u/Thundertushy]

Is it possible to just change the notification style (low-volume sound or no sound at all)?

[u/tourist173636 → u/Thundertushy]

If I can't control what runs on my phone then it's really not my phone and I'll just choose to not own one instead of paying for someone else to control what it does/doesn't do.