How can I get the MyShake app if I don’t already have it?
If you have an iPhone, you can download the MyShake app from the Apple app store.
If you have an Android phone, you can download MyShake from the Google Play store — but Android phones will also get these alerts automatically through the Android operating system (more on this below.)
Read more about the evolution of the MyShake app.
How will this system be used when a real earthquake is detected?
When an earthquake happens, multiple earthquake stations will detect the shaking of the ground. Algorithms then estimate the earthquake’s location and expected magnitude.
If the earthquake is estimated to be magnitude 4.5 or greater, MyShake will send an alert to phones in the affected area.
Christina Valen, a data analyst at UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, told KQED in 2023 that if someone is far enough from the earthquake’s epicenter, they will receive the alert a few seconds before the ground shaking gets more intense. These seconds of warning can be used to take protective action such as Drop, Cover, and Hold On, she said.
I have the app, but what if I don’t get the test alert?
If you have the MyShake app, and you don’t get the alert on your phone on Thursday, don’t worry: It might be due to a few reasons.
Your alerts and notifications might be disabled for the MyShake app, or MyShake may not have permission to run in your phone’s background. Since the alert will be sent to phones in California, Oregon and Washington, the app will rely on your location data in order to send you the test alert.
This means that if you have your location services turned off, you might not be able to receive the alert. You can contact MyShake support if you think you’ve encountered a problem with the app.
There’s also another reason that people don’t receive MyShake alerts when they’re expecting them, said the Berkeley Seismology Lab’s Allen: They don’t actually have the app installed on their phone when they thought they did. And with other kinds of earthquake and emergency alerts in the mix (more on this below), “People get confused because there are different pathways for them to get alerts,” Allen said.
(If you did install MyShake in the past on your iPhone but you still don’t receive the alert, check that you don’t have the “Offload Unused Apps” turned on. This feature could have automatically uninstalled MyShake to save storage space if you haven’t used it in a while.)
If my phone is off or on airplane mode, will I receive the alert?
Just like a normal alert, MyShake is unable to send test alerts to phones that are off or in airplane mode.
For people who have the MyShake app and prefer not to receive the alerts on Thursday, MyShake advises people to silence their phones from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on the day.
Find more frequently asked questions about MyShake here.
What are other ways than MyShake to get an alert if a real earthquake hits?
The ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning System (EEW) from USGS and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) sends earthquake alerts to people’s phones in multiple ways.
The most widespread way is through Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), which sends loud alerts to all cellphones. If an earthquake is expected to be magnitude 5 or greater, USGS and FEMA will send a WEA to all capable devices. (This, by the way, was the kind of emergency test alert that was sent out last fall.)
ShakeAlert also powers other systems like MyShake alerts and the ShakeReadySD app for San Diego residents.
Since 2020, Android phones have also been capable of receiving earthquake early warning alerts through Google’s Android operating system — though users should still check their settings to make sure that earthquake alerts are enabled.
MyShake differs from other alert delivery tools in that it collects user experience reports for earthquakes greater than magnitude 3.5 and uses motion data captured by phones for research purposes, UC Berkeley’s Valen said.
The hope for this test alert is that when people receive it, they Drop, Cover, and Hold On.
“It may feel a little silly waiting under a table while nothing happens, but ShakeOut is meant to be an opportunity to practice and build muscle memory for when we experience actual earthquakes,” Valen said.
“Also, ShakeOut is a great opportunity to make a disaster plan, build an emergency supplies kit and identify potential hazards that could cause injury when an earthquake happens,” she said.
An earlier version of this story originally published on Oct. 13, 2023.
