Keep your phone on 'DND'? How to get weather alerts even when your phone is silent

Even if your phone is on silent or set to “Do Not Disturb,” emergency weather alerts can still break through — and that’s a good thing.

As severe storms grow more frequent and unpredictable, keeping these alerts enabled could mean the difference between reaching safety and being caught off guard.

During last week’s devastating floods in Texas, where at least 120 people died and over 170 remain missing, questions have been raised about how to improve emergency communication. With no widespread flood siren system in place, having multiple ways to receive alerts becomes all the more critical.

Now is a good time to double-check your phone settings — just in case.

How to turn on emergency alerts on iPhone:

• Open Settings, then scroll to Notifications
• Scroll to Emergency Alerts near the bottom
• Toggle the alerts on. If available, turn on Local Awareness so Apple can use your approximate location to improve accuracy.
• Toggle Always Play Sound to ensure you’re notified even when your phone is on silent or in Focus mode.

How to turn on emergency alerts on Android phones

• Go to Settings > Safety & Emergency > Wireless Emergency Alerts
• Make sure Allow Alerts is toggled on
• Confirm that Extreme Threats and Severe Threats are selected
• Some devices also allow Critical Alerts to bypass Do Not Disturb for urgent notifications — enable this if available

Other ways to ensure you receive notifications

In addition to built-in emergency alerts, several weather apps offer real-time notifications for severe weather:

• The Weather Channel
• AccuWeather
• Apple and Android's built-in weather apps

To make sure you're receiving notifications:

1. Go to Settings > find the app (e.g., Weather Channel, AccuWeather)
2. Tap Notifications and ensure alerts are toggled on
3. To allow alerts through Do Not Disturb or Focus Mode, go to your Focus settings and add the weather app under Allowed Apps

Note: Many third-party apps won't override silent mode, even if notifications and sounds are enabled. For best results, customize a Focus mode that allows select people and apps to break through when it matters most.

If you're using an iPhone, look for the "Intelligent Breakthrough & Silencing" feature within your Focus settings. This option allows priority notifications — like severe weather alerts — to interrupt you while still silencing less urgent messages. You can also allow "time-sensitive" notifications.