Australia's AusAlert test will go ahead, here's how to turn it off

After nine community-based trials, the national test is on track to be carried out on July 27 at 2pm AEST, and will include a 10-second siren on smart phones, plus some smart watches and tablets.

"All that test will do is alert the user with that siren, and the notification that comes up on the home screen says, we are testing AusAlert," Minister for Emergency Management Kristy McBain told ABC on July 22.

"In a real emergency there is a range of other information that's already going to be out there for community members through emergency broadcasts, through their local emergency service agencies, through the information that they'll be seeing in and around them.

"If they do receive an alert, it's because there is something in their immediate vicinity."

State representatives had reportedly raised concerns about the roll out regarding landlines, language barriers and state emergency protocols already in place.

Deakin University lecturer Anuradha Madugalla said research showed warning systems were often built to a "one-size-fits-all" and could be a disadvantage to the elderly, people with disabilities or who don't speak

"In one of our recent studies, older participants struggled to navigate back to the home page after following an external link," the software engineering expert wrote via The Conversation.

"Vision issues add another layer: small text, colour-coded warnings and live maps can all be inaccessible depending on someone's visual impairment."

Madugalla did say AusAlert was a great start, but suggested the alert should "guide people to a single platform where they can set preferences in a few clicks" (such as language, literacy, and vision).

If you receive an urgent-looking, emergency text, there is no need to panic that you might be being scammed.

McBain had previously said the test alerts would help officials iron out any technical problems before the nationwide launch, but were also important for raising community awareness.

AusAlert, which can send alerts to all mobile phones in a geo-targeted location, is a new system allowing emergency services to quickly communicate with the public during a local or national emergency. Similar systems are already in place in New Zealand, the US, UK and dozens more countries.

Phones that receive a test alert will play a siren-like warning for 10 seconds, and message from AusAlert will pop up on the phone screen.

AusAlerts will let Australians in affected areas know about emergencies including natural disasters like floods, bushfires or cyclones, security threats, public health emergencies, or biosecurity incidents.

The new emergency warning system will officially launch in October 2026, and tests for the new system are under way in specific locations across Australia.

A nationwide test alert will be sent to every Australian phone at 2pm on Monday, July 27, 2026.

Apple devices running iOS 26.4 and Android 12 or later are able to receive the alert, which will be broadcast in English.

Once the system is active, there are two different types of alerts you may receive.

The first is a Critical Alert, which will play a high-pitched sound, and will play on your phone even on 'silent' or 'do not disturb' mode.

The second type is Priority Alert, which means there is a "high level of threat" and conditions could change. This will come with the same high-pitched sound, but will not sound if your phone is on silent or do not disturb.

How the message sounds and appears may vary slightly depending on what type of phone you have.

Alerts can also be sent to landline phones, where a spoken message will play once you pick up the phone.