--- title: How People Reacted to the Presidential Fema Alert description: Reactions ranged from anger about receiving an unwanted message from Trump to confusion and concern when phones did not receive an alert. canonical: https://time.com/5414349/fema-alert/ author: Gina Martinez article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-03T19:46:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:55:14.784Z og:title: The Presidential Alert Happened and Here Are the Reactions og:description: 225 million phones in the U.S. got a Presidential alert test og:url: https://time.com/5414349/fema-alert/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7064b6ba07c68ccb/69893bbfdb2987fbfe260d91/presidentialalert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2048 og:image:height: 1152 og:image:alt: FEMA Tests New Presidential Alert System og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Presidential Alert Happened and Here Are the Reactions twitter:description: 225 million phones in the U.S. got a Presidential alert test twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7064b6ba07c68ccb/69893bbfdb2987fbfe260d91/presidentialalert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # People Have Plenty to Say About the First Presidential Alert > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Gina Martinez](https://time.com/author/gina-martinez/) ## Gina Martinez Oct 3, 2018 7:46 PM UTC  NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 03: In this photo illustration, a phone displays an emergency alert message that reads "Presidential Alert. THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed" on October 3, 2018 in New York City. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) sent the "presidential alert" as a test to millions of phones across the United States. (Photo Illustration by Theo Wargo/Getty Images) NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 03: In this photo illustration, a phone displays an emergency alert message that reads "Presidential Alert. THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed" on October 3, 2018 in New York City. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) sent the "presidential alert" as a test to millions of phones across the United States. (Photo Illustration by Theo Wargo/Getty Images) Theo Wargo—Getty Images by [Gina Martinez](https://time.com/author/gina-martinez/) ## Gina Martinez Oct 3, 2018 7:46 PM UTC On Wednesday afternoon FEMA conducted its first test of the the [nationwide Presidential alert](http://time.com/5400574/presidential-alert-donald-trump-fema/) and social media was full of mixed reactions. The Presidential Alert is similar to the state-level systems that let police and local authorities send out AMBER Alerts and weather warnings. The biggest difference is it’s scale. At 2:18 p.m. 225 million smart phones in the United States received a Presidential Alert. It featured a loud alarm, followed by vibration that lasted around one minute, and required no action. On screens far and wide, it read: --- > “” --- News of the Presidential Alert test drew immediate criticism on some corners of social media – with some people vowing to turn off their phones, believing wrongly that they will be a captive audience of President Donald Trump. Some even mused – incorrectly – that the system would allow him to tweet to every American. The test seemed to go off without a hitch and reactions ranged from anger about receiving an unwanted message from Trump to confusion and concern when phones did not receive an alert. It was clear that some, like _Jimmy Kimmel Live!_ Jimmy Kimmel host, had already planned their Presidential Alert “reaction” posts. > [](https://twitter.com/jimmykimmel/status/1047552325668065280) > [](https://twitter.com/benwikler/status/1047559047338180608) > [](https://twitter.com/chrissyteigen/status/1047552504169345024) **MORE**: [225 Million Phones Just Received a Presidential Alert. No, It Was Not a Text From President Trump](http://time.com/5400574/presidential-alert-donald-trump-fema/) Wednesday’s test was meant to assess the readiness to distribute an emergency message nationwide, and determine whether there are improvements to be made, according to FEMA. The test was is also meant to allow officials to find a way to reach more people, including those who do not have access to smartphones. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5414349/fema-alert/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5414349/fema-alert/"},"headline":"People Have Plenty to Say About the First Presidential Alert","datePublished":"2018-10-03T19:46:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:55:14.784Z","description":"The test seemed to go off without a hitch and reactions ranged from anger about receiving an unwanted message from Trump to confusion and concern when phones did not receive an alert.","url":"https://time.com/5414349/fema-alert/","keywords":["Newsfeed","politics","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7064b6ba07c68ccb/69893bbfdb2987fbfe260d91/presidentialalert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Gina Martinez","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/gina-martinez/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7064b6ba07c68ccb/69893bbfdb2987fbfe260d91/presidentialalert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"FEMA Tests New Presidential Alert System","caption":"FEMA Tests New Presidential Alert System","creditText":"Theo Wargo—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5414349/fema-alert/","name":"People Have Plenty to Say About the First Presidential Alert"}}]}] ```