Many Texans were startled awake early Friday by a Blue Alert on their cellphones in connection with a man suspected of violence against a law enforcement officer in Hall County in the Texas Panhandle.
The statewide alerts — Blue, Amber, Silver, and and others — are meant to gather tips from the public to help capture criminals who kill or seriously hurt local, state or federal law enforcement or find missing individuals.
They’re pushed out to everyone, but you can turn off the notifications on your phone.
If you have emergency alerts turned on, the alert tone will sound loudly even if your phone is on Do Not Disturb, so if you truly want your phone to remain silent, you’ll want to know how to turn the emergency alerts on and off.
On iPhones, open the Settings, choose Notifications and scroll to the bottom, and you can toggle Amber Alerts and Emergency Alerts on or off.
Android phone users might find the emergency alert settings in a few different places depending on their version of Android.
Open the Settings. Select Notifications or Apps & Notifications.
Tap Wireless Emergency Alerts or Advanced and then Emergency Alerts.
Toggle on and off Amber Alerts, Severe alerts and Extreme alerts.
You may have to dig a little deeper into Settings to find the right spot in older phones.