-Source-USAToday-
No need to panic. You aren’t the only one who just received an alert from the president of the United States.
On Wednesday at 2:18 p.m. ET, smartphones in the U.S. were buzzing with a test of a “presidential alert,” managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to warn residents about national emergencies.
The system was originally put in place under former President George W. Bush for radio and TV and then later updated during the tenure of former President Barack Obama to include cellphones. It wasn't until Wednesday that it got its first test.
"The test will assess the operational readiness of the infrastructure for distribution of a national message and determine whether improvements are needed," read a statement from FEMA ahead of the alert test.
The alert works similarly to a weather emergency or Amber alert, where a user will see a notification pop up on their smartphone, as well as a loud tone with vibration. The key difference is users don't have the option to disable presidential alerts. Read more
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