The Cell Broadcast warning system is now available throughout Germany. In the event of a catastrophe, the mobile phone should announce itself with a loud tone and a message. An app does not have to be installed for this.

Cell Broadcast starts in Germany

The Cell Broadcast warning system is now officially available throughout Germany. The network operators Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and Telefónica (O2) have confirmed the launch. In the event of an impending catastrophe the mobile phone reports with a loud tone and an additional message. An app does not have to be installed. It is enough if the mobile phone is connected to a radio cell. Cell broadcast cannot be used in flight mode.

Cell broadcast is not a text message, even if you often read about a warning SMS. The broadcasters of the radio-type news in Germany are the situation centers of the federal states and the control centers of the districts and cities (source: hot online).

While the system has long been used in other EU countries, it took longer to introduce in Germany. First the devastating flood disaster in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate in the summer of 2021 ultimately led to wanting to introduce cell broadcast in Germany as well. The system was tested on a nationwide warning day in December 2022.

Other means of warning will continue to exist in addition to cell broadcast. This includes Sirens or announcements on the radio. In addition, citizens can also install an app like Nina or Katwarn on their smartphones, as recommended by the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance.

You can see more about the warning app Nina in the video:

NINA: This is how the warning app works

Cell broadcast enabled automatically

The warning system is already activated automatically on smartphones with newer operating systems. This is at Android from version 11 and iOS from 15.6.1 the case. With older smartphones, cell broadcast may have to be activated manually in the device settings.

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