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Ask HN: How Do Emergency Alerts on Phone Work?

8 points by rishikeshs ↗ HN
I’m now in UAE which is affected by war. Woke up to an alert yesterday night and was wondering how this works. Any good write ups on its technical side?

2 comments

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WarOnPrivacy 

     Delivery Method: WEA utilizes a one-to-many alert delivery service
     called SMS-Cell Broadcast (SMS-CB), rather than SMS Point-to-Point
     (SMS-PP). 

     SMS-Cell Broadcast (SMS-CB) is a method for sending short text messages
     simultaneously to multiple mobile phone users within a specific geographic
     area. It is a feature within the GSM (Global System for Mobile
     Communications) standard and is sometimes referred to as Cell Broadcast.
ref: https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/144000_144099/144012/07...