In an emergency, it is vital that the authorities can reach the affected population as quickly and directly as possible. Alertswiss collects every detail regarding incidents in Switzerland, making it an information platform that can protect and save lives. The national Alertswiss app sends you alerts, warnings and information on a wide range of hazards such as drinking water contamination, power outages or forest fires directly to your smartphone. In addition to these reports, you can access extensive information on the given incident or hazard on the Alertswiss website.

Alertswiss is an alert and information channel operated by the federal government and the cantons. The Federal Office for Civil Protection FOCP operates and provides the infrastructure for this website and the Alertswiss app. The reports are issued by the agencies responsible for incident management. In most cases, these are the cantons or the cantonal police forces.

There are three different levels of notification: alerts, warnings and information. An alert is the highest level of notification; information, the lowest.

• Alert: used when the authorities inform you of an immediate danger and issue mandatory instructions on what to do.
• Warning: reports a possible danger or an event for which the authorities provide non-binding recommendations.
• Information: reports on an event that is relevant to the protection of the population, but does not present imminent danger.
  

Alertswiss notifications generally contain the following information:

• Description of the incident and existing danger• What area is affected Instructions or recommendations on what to do or what measures the authorities have taken
• Additional sources of information, for example hotlines, websites or contact points
• Name of the competent authority or authority responsible for sending the alert
  

All reports which appear on the Alertswiss app are issued by the competent official authorities. Security measures (integrity protection) are in place to ensure that only reports from authorised providers appear on the Alertswiss app.

All reports which appear on the Alertswiss app are issued by the competent official authorities. Security measures (integrity protection) are in place to ensure that only reports from authorised providers appear on the Alertswiss app.

Alertswiss is an alerting and information channel of the Federal administration and the Cantons. The decision as to whether an announcement should be made via the Alertswiss app and the website is made by the agencies in charge of event response. In most cases, these are the Cantons or the respective Cantonal police forces. They decide on their own authority whether an announcement should be disseminated via Alertswiss and if so, what its message should be.

The authorities that send out the announcements decide in which languages they are to be published. In this process, not all languages will always be considered. When announcements are submitted, they may include translations provided by Google. In that case, a notice will be displayed below the announcement. 

All messages on the Alertswiss app are visible for as long as they are valid. The time for an all-clear or removal of the alert is determined by the authorities responsible for incident management. It is not possible to delete messages individually in the app.

There are three different levels of notification: alerts, warnings and information. An alert is the highest level of notification; information, the lowest.

• Alert: used when the authorities inform you of an immediate danger and issue mandatory instructions on what to do.
• Warning: reports a possible danger or an event for which the authorities provide non-binding recommendations.
• Information: reports on an event that is relevant to the protection of the population, but does not present imminent danger.
  

• USB content (photos/media/files): in order to let you export the emergency plan, it is stored on the USB memory. The app therefore must also be able to access the USB memory in order to import an emergency plan.
• Search for accounts on the device: To benefit from push notifications, you need to have a Google account. 
• Internet/network access: Various contents in the app, such as the blog, are retrieved via the internet.
• Disable sleep mode: required for receiving push notifications.

In the Alertswiss app, you have stated that you would like to receive push notifications when an Alertswiss message relates to your location. At the same time, you have specified in your device settings that the Alertswiss app may not access your location. That is why you receive these requests. You have two options to stop the requests from appearing:

1. In the device settings of your mobile phone, allow the Alertswiss app to access your location by clicking ‘Always allow’. You will then receive a push notification when an Alertswiss message relates to your location. You will no longer receive requests to share your location. The user’s location is not passed on to the federal authorities.
2. In the app settings under ‘Notifications’, deactivate ‘Location’. You will no longer receive push notifications when an Alertswiss message relates to your location. You will no longer receive requests to share your location.

Open the app settings and select «Favourites», then select «Configure». You can then set the desired cantons as favourites. You will receive push notifications for all the cantons you have selected.

Yes, of course. You can delete your favourite cantons at any time. Simply select the «Favourites» in the app settings. Then select «Configure», which you can use to delete the relevant canton from your favourites.

The push notification service sends you reports for the cantons on your favourites list, and for your current location (if you have activated this service) as soon as this information is released. This lets you receive updates in real time on the ongoing incident or hazard. Please note that your smartphone needs to have a live internet connection to receive push notifications.

Yes. Simply move the slider to the desired notification level in the app settings.

Yes, but you need to activate the «Current location reports» service. You will receive push notifications for your current location.

The push notifications have a cross-cantonal range of 1 kilometer. This means that you will still receive notifications from the neighboring canton when you are up to 1 kilometer beyond the cantonal border.

The most likely reason is that the push function is currently disabled. Go to Settings to activate this service and select the required message level (Information, Warning, Alert). Also, your operating system (iOS or Android) has to authorise the app to send push notifications to your device. We recommend that you add the cantons to your Favourites and activate the «Current location reports» (GPS).

The Alertswiss App automatically adopts your device’s language settings. To switch languages, you therefore need to change your device’s language settings. The Alertswiss app is available in German, French, Italian and English.

Yes. If you want to load data, make sure that your device has an active internet connection. Please remember that the app only provides reports for Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein. If you require information on an incident abroad, please contact the relevant authorities in the country concerned.

Im Ernstfall ist es besonders wichtig, die betroffene Bevölkerung schnell und möglichst direkt zu erreichen. Auf Alertswiss fliessen die relevanten Informationen bei Ereignissen in der Schweiz zusammen: eine Informationsdrehscheibe, die Leben schützen und retten kann. Mit der nationalen Alarm-App Alertswiss erhalten Sie Alarme, Warnungen und Informationen für unterschiedliche Gefahren  wie beispielsweise Trinkwasserverunreinigung, Stromausfälle oder Waldbrandgefahr direkt auf ihr Smartphone. Parallel zu den Meldungen in der App werden die Ereignisinformationen auch auf der Alertswiss-Webseite publiziert.

Yes, you can deactivate the function at any time in the settings of your device. However, we recommend that you leave this function activated so that you are informed in good time in the event of an emergency.

In an emergency, you may be faced with fundamental questions: How do I contact my friends and relatives? Where do I go? What do I take with me? A current emergency plan helps you to respond rapidly and correctly, so that you and your family are protected as well as possible. We recommend discussing the emergency plan with your friends and relatives and checking it annually to ensure that it is still up-to-date.

You can create your individual emergency plan in the app's and website’s Precaution tab, which will help you to act quickly and appropriately in emergency situations. You can export your emergency plan as a PDF and either forward it digitally to your relatives or print it out.

Under Article 13 of the Federal Constitution and the data protection provisions of the federal government, every person has the right to privacy and the right to be protected against the misuse of their personal data. The federal authorities comply with this provision. Personal data is treated confidentially and is neither sold nor otherwise passed on to third parties.

The Federal Office for Civil Protection FOCP works closely with service providers to protect data as well as possible from unauthorised access, loss, misuse or falsification.

Alertswiss can be used to record personal data. This is data that users enter themselves in the emergency plan. This data is only stored locally on the user's device, unless the user actively sends it to a third party.

A user's location is not transmitted to the federal authorities and personal mobile phone data cannot be accessed.

Please contact us via the contact form if you have any comments or suggestions.