FR-Alert will be launched by the government at the end of June. This “universal” localized alert system on smartphones will be used for any type of serious incident.
The Ministry of the Interior plans to generalize from the end of June a new technological device called FR-Alert, capable of informing French people directly on their smartphones who are in an area where a major incident is taking place. The message sent will be accompanied by a vibration and an audible alert, even if the phone is in “silent” mode.
The Ministry plans to use this system for any type of serious event, ranging from natural disasters (fires, storms, floods, etc.) to terrorist acts, including chemical accidents (gas leaks or nuclear incidents) , health risks (epidemics) or even serious accidents on the road networks. For information, the development of this alert system had been launched following the fire which occurred in 2020 in the Lubrizol factory in Rouen, but a European directive obliges all the Member States of the European Union to equip themselves of such a system before June 21, 2022.
A few tests will be carried out by then to ensure that the process works properly, without this calling for any particular behavior on the part of the population. The messages sent will obviously be standardized and must inform each time of the nature of the incident, its location, the risk incurred and the behavior to adopt.
Only on 4G smartphones
From a technical point of view, the ministry affirms that Android smartphones are already configured to receive these alerts, that no registration is necessary and that the alerts will not pass when one is in “airplane” mode, which is logical considering that all the networks are cut in this case. The broadcasting of messages uses “cell broadcast” and therefore waves broadcast by telecommunications antennas, instead of the classic SMS. Why this choice ? Quite simply because it generates smaller shipments which limit the risk of network saturation.
The only downside is that it can only be broadcast to smartphones compatible with 4G. The Ministry of the Interior therefore announces that it is also working in parallel on a geolocated SMS system. In any case, the ministry hopes to have in its possession a much more universal and effective alert system than the messages it currently publishes on social networks which, although very popular, are not an ideal solution in this context. .