How do you get emergency alerts when travelling abroad?

Short answer. Keep your phone's emergency alerts on: in 44 of the 62 countries compared, official warnings reach phones in the danger area with no app. Elsewhere, install the destination's official alert app if one exists.

Do you need an app to get emergency alerts abroad?

Usually not: in 44 of the 62 countries Phaenyx compares, official warnings reach phones in the danger area by cell broadcast or location-based text message, with no app or registration. Germany's Cell Broadcast, for example, is anonymous, text only and needs no app ¹. U.S. Wireless Emergency Alerts are free, need no download or subscription and do not track your location ². In the UK, Emergency Alerts work on all UK 4G and 5G networks with no sign-up, app, phone number or location data ³.

The other 18 countries fall into three groups, shown row by row in the country table:

• Being introduced or partial (4): Slovenia's SI-ALARM ran its first national public test on 27 September 2025 ⁴; Singapore's SG Alert is rolling out network by network until mid-2027 ⁵; Kazakhstan's Cell Broadcast was connected in Almaty, Shymkent and three regions as of 16 January 2026 ⁶; Indonesia uses SMS blast ⁷.
• Planned (6): Argentina, Finland, Ireland, Malaysia, Moldova and Switzerland.
• None in service, or none confirmed by an official source (8): Colombia, Costa Rica, Georgia, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, South Africa and Turkey.

The comparison of phone alerts in 62 countries sets out each country's phone, app and siren channels side by side.

Will emergency alerts reach a foreign phone?

Official sources confirm it for six countries: Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, India and Portugal send their phone alerts to foreign or roaming phones in the area too.

• Austria: AT-Alert also reaches foreign phones roaming in Austria ⁸.
• Croatia: SRUUK warnings go by SMS or cell broadcast to all domestic and foreign (roaming) mobile users in the affected area ⁹.
• Denmark: foreign mobile phones in a danger area where the police issue a warning can also receive S!RENEN ¹⁰.
• Estonia: EE-ALARM text messages reach phones with non-Estonian numbers too; on those phones the sender shows as +372 5950 0000 instead of EE-ALARM ¹¹.
• India: Cell Broadcast alerts reach roaming phones and cannot be disabled by users ¹².
• Portugal: visitors roaming in Portugal receive the AvisoPROCIV text message in Portuguese and English ¹⁴.

Two more countries say the same of systems not yet fully running. Slovenia's SI-ALARM, being introduced, reaches phones on national roaming and those of visitors from abroad ⁴. Finland's FI-Alert will reach visitors on foreign subscriptions ¹⁵; the law adding cell broadcast to Finland's warning channels takes effect on 1 November 2026 ¹⁶.

For the other countries, the official pages read for this guide do not say whether foreign SIM cards receive alerts, so this guide does not assume they do.

Which emergency alerts come in English?

Austria, Bulgaria, Israel, Kuwait, Portugal, Slovenia and Thailand send phone alerts in English as well as the national language.

• Austria: German and English ⁸.
• Bulgaria: BG-ALERT messages are distributed in Bulgarian and English ¹⁷.
• Israel: alerts are broadcast on channels for Hebrew, English, Russian and Arabic ¹³.
• Kuwait: Arabic as the primary language and English as the secondary language, at minimum ¹⁸.
• Portugal: Portuguese and English for roaming visitors ¹⁴.
• Slovenia: Slovene and English, with Italian or Hungarian in national-community areas ⁴.
• Thailand: Thai and English ¹⁹.

Elsewhere it depends on the phone or is still coming. In Spain, an optional second language, usually English, is shown on phones set to a language other than Spanish ²⁰. Latvian alerts are sometimes also written in English ²¹. Sweden's SE-Alert launched in Swedish; phones set to other languages are due to receive English later in 2026 ²². Singapore's SG Alert is sent in English, plus Mandarin, Malay or Tamil if the phone uses that language ⁵. Finland's 112 Suomi app sends its notifications in Finnish or Swedish ²³.

Which official alert apps are made for visitors?

Japan's Safety tips, supervised by the Japan Tourism Agency, is a free app for foreign visitors ²⁴²⁵, and South Korea's Emergency Ready App sends disaster texts in five foreign languages ²⁶.

• Japan: Safety tips pushes earthquake early warnings, tsunami warnings, special weather warnings, eruption alerts, evacuation information, heatstroke information and J-Alert ²⁵. Residents need no app, because J-Alert reaches phones by emergency alert mail ²⁷.
• South Korea: the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) offers the Emergency Ready App as a separate install for foreigners: disaster and safety information in English, Chinese and Japanese, and disaster texts in English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai and Japanese ²⁶.
• Iceland: the Safetravel app, run by ICE-SAR, shows weather and road conditions and lets hikers send their GPS location to 112; official area warnings still arrive by 112 text message, with no app ³²³³.

Two national alert apps are not described as made for visitors:

• Switzerland: Alertswiss, the free national alert app of the Federal Office for Civil Protection (FOCP), can push alerts for your current location ²⁸²⁹. The app is available in German, French, Italian and English, but the authority sending a message decides its languages ²⁹.
• United States: the free FEMA App, in English and Spanish, gives National Weather Service alerts for up to five locations ³⁰³¹.

Some apps only warn you about places you pick. Germany's NINA app sends nothing until you subscribe to places, and warnings for your current location are optional ³⁴.

How do you make sure your phone receives the alerts?

Check that emergency alerts are switched on in your phone's settings and that its software is up to date: several systems only reach recent phones.

1. Turn emergency alerts on. Lithuania says emergency alerts must be switched on, that button phones need channel 578 added, and that on dual-SIM phones alerts only work with SIM 1 ³⁵. Kazakhstan's emergency ministry warns that some Huawei and Xiaomi phones have the function off by default ⁶.
2. Update the phone. Germany's Cell Broadcast needs Android 11 or later or iOS 16.1 or later ¹. The UK's alerts work on iPhones with iOS 14.5 or later and on Android 11 or later, on a 4G or 5G network ³. Sweden's SE-Alert needs an iPhone 11 or later, or Android 12 or later ²². Singapore's SG Alert needs iOS 26.4 or later or Android 12 or later, with the latest Google Play system update ⁵.
3. Check the brand. Huawei phones currently cannot receive Austria's AT-Alert, because they have no access to the current Google Play Store ⁸.
4. Keep the phone on and connected. In Spain, phones that are switched off or out of coverage do not receive ES-Alert ²⁰. In the UK, alerts are not received on 2G or 3G, on wifi-only devices or on phones that are switched off ³.
5. Install the destination's app when there is no phone alert, or when the country table names an app made for visitors.

How does each country send emergency alerts to phones?

In 44 of the 62 countries, an official system sends warnings to phones in the area with no app; the table gives each country's system and the official app, if any. Country names link to each country's alert page, with sirens, tests and sources.

"Yes" means an official source describes a system in service that sends warnings to phones in the affected area by cell broadcast or location-based text message, with no app or registration. A mention of foreign, roaming or visitors' phones appears only where an official source says so.

What official agencies recommend

• United Kingdom (GOV.UK): when an alert arrives, stop what you are doing and follow its instructions; if you are driving, find somewhere safe and legal to stop before reading it ¹⁰⁷.
• Denmark (Beredskabsstyrelsen): the rule on receiving S!RENEN is "STOP. LÆS. REAGÉR." (Stop. Read. React.) ¹⁰.
• Portugal (ANEPC): official warning texts always come from the sender AvisoPROCIV; ignore texts from senders that are variations of that name ¹⁴.
• Mexico (CIRES): alert apps depend entirely on a data or Wi-Fi connection, which causes variable delays; cell broadcast is the viable option for phones ⁷⁵.
• Netherlands (NL-Alert): the NL-Alert app is meant for people often near the border, who do not always receive NL-Alerts by cell broadcast ⁷⁸.