PSA: Trump's message system text on all smartphones at 2:18

You can always turn your phone off so it doesn't startle you.

You know what sucks? When you have multiple phones because of work and cannot turn them off. So everyone who is in the office today will have multiple phones going off at the same time.

I might set an alarm for 2 minutes before so I can turn my phone off for a few minutes. Would having your phone on total silent, no alarms nothing work, the do not disturb mode, I wonder?
I a sure this has been addressed, but why is this happening?

If it happens to all phones I wonder how many accidents it will cause. I can imagine that quite a few people will not know about it and be startled by it especially if it going off for a full minute. That is insane. I have all my alerts set to silent so am curious if I will hear it or not.

I keep my phone on silent at work, it can still go off? I find this really annoying, what's next he'll start to force us all to receive his messages?

I'll be volunteering at that time.  The kids will be out for recess, so we'll see how many actually follow the rules of keeping them in their backpacks turned off or on silent.

From what I've read, no one knows for absolute certain, but having your phone silenced should work to avoid the sound. You should get a visual notification on your screen. If your phone is off, the alert is supposed to come across when you turn it back on. 

Yep, if there is a way to do it you can bet that will happen.

I can't wait to hear if this actually works on every phone in the U.S.

Recently here they have been trying to get the emergency broadcast system to broadcast on all phones. It has not worked for everyone. A week and a half ago we had a tornado and not everyone, myself included, received the emergency broadcast on their phones. My ds on the same network, same family plan, different phone received it. He has an iPhone 6 and I have a Samsung 8. As far as I know "they" can't figure out how to get it to everyone.

We have that in Alberta. Emergencies, Amber Alerts, etc. My phone is always on silent, it doesn't ring when they sound out the emergency tone or message. It just shows up on my locked screen. As soon as I unlock my screen, the message is gone, before I have even had a chance to read it. No idea where to find it again on my phone. It's not super helpful. Unless I'm doing something wrong...lol...

I'm more interested in the "why do you have a secret cell phone?" and "Who brought their cell phone into the situation room?" conversations this test is going to instigate.

I don't have an issue with this. It has nothing to do with the President and it's silly to have that name attached to it. But a national alert system isn't a bad idea. Although, I can think of very few things that would affect a country as geographically large as ours so that everyone needed to be notified.

I warned my kids it was going to happen so they will be expecting it at school.

Several stories I've seen, state that only the President can send it out. That the agencies would advise him, but he has to send the alarm.

I know with Amber Alerts, if my phone is on, it goes off. If I'm not in a service area and don't have connection, or my phone is off, the alarm goes off when I come in range or turn it back on.