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Students automatically receive email alerts via their ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø email account. Students living in student housing in Seattle automatically receive text messages, too.

For text messages, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø adds the phone number from your ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø student profile to the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert system. If the number is for a cell phone, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø will send you ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alerts via text.

See below for directions to update or remove your ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert information.

You can add five additional email addresses and two additional cell phone numbers. Your subscription lasts for a year or until you no longer attend ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, whichever is sooner.

To sign up for text messages and add email addresses:

• Go to (you’ll be asked to sign in with your ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø NetID and password first)
• Under SMS Numbers, add or edit your contact information. You can list up to three cell phone numbers. For each phone number, select your carrier.
• For email, add up to five additional email addresses.
• Each cell number registered will receive a message with a validation code. Login to and enter your validation code.
• Email accounts will receive a validation link via email. Use that link to validate your account.
• Choose which campus you want alerts from: In the purple bar at the top of the page, select Groups, then click subscribe for each campus you would like to receive alerts from or unsubscribe to stop receiving alerts from that campus. If you do not select a campus, you will not receive alerts.

Most ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø employees automatically receive alerts via their ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø email account. You can list three email addresses and two cell phone numbers. Your subscription lasts until you no longer are employed by the University.

To sign up for text messages and add email addresses:

• Go to (you’ll be asked to sign in with your ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø NetID and password first)
• Under SMS Numbers, list up to two cell numbers. For each phone number, select your carrier.
• For email, add up to two additional email addresses.
• Each cell number registered will receive a message with a validation code. Login to and enter your validation code.
• Email accounts will receive a validation link via email. Use that link to validate your account.
• Choose which campus you want alerts from: In the purple bar at the top of the page, select Groups, then click subscribe for each campus you would like to receive alerts from. If you do not select a campus, you will not receive alerts.

Your student can register up to two cell phone numbers and three email addresses for ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alerts. Please talk with your student if you would like to receive alert messages as only students can complete their ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert registration. ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alerts are also posted on the .

. You will not be automatically registered. You must sign up to receive alerts.

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert information is available on Ìý and . Email alerts and text messages are currently not available to community members.

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert is a notification system that quickly informs the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø community about an emergency situation that poses an immediate potential threat to health and safety on or near campus. ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert messages are sent via email and text, as well as posted on , and the . Incidents that prompt an alert message can include an active shooter, other violent crimes on or near campus, severe weather and hazardous materials (HazMat) responses. ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert messages are limited to 160 characters, so messages include a link to the for more information as it becomes available.

A ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Advisory works in the same way as ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert, but is used to make the community aware of a significant situation that could be disruptive but does not pose an immediate threat to health and safety. These could include power outages, phone outages that could affect 911 service, suspended campus operations and perceived threats which police have determined to be unfounded. If you sign up for ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert, you are automatically also subscribed for ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Advisory messages. Nearly all messages include a link to the for more information.

If a serious emergency occurs on or near a ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø campus, most of ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø’s 60,000 students will not receive an alert via text message, only via email.

Only 8% of students have signed up to receive ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert text messages, as of November 2023. ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert emails are sent to all ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø email addresses automatically, but most students have to navigate a multi-step online process to add their cell phone numbers for ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert texts.

To get emergency notices and directives to more students faster, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø will add student phone numbers to the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert system starting at the end of January 2024.

The phone number is from your student profile. If the phone number in your student profile is incorrect, update your phone number online using in the Address and Consent section.

You can update your contact information for your ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert account only (this will not change your student record) by logging into .

• Login to and click Inactivate for each email address and cell phone number you would like to remove from your account.
• For text messages, you can also unsubscribe by replying STOP to any ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert text message or text STOP to 79516 (except for students living on campus in Seattle, who must contact Housing & Food Services for account changes).
• For email messages, you can also unsubscribe by clicking Unsubscribe at the bottom of any ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert email message.

Check your cell phone validation. You need to validate each cell phone number. Unvalidated numbers will not receive alerts.

• Go to (you’ll be asked to sign in with your ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø NetID and password first).
• In SMS Numbers, check your cell number.
• Active means your number has been validated.
• If Unvalidated is listed, click Resend to send the validation code again. After you receive the code, login to your account and enter the code.

Make sure you’re signed up for a Group. If you do not select a campus, you will not receive alerts.

• Go to (you’ll be asked to sign in with your ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø NetID and password first).
• In the purple bar at the top of the page, select Groups, then click subscribe for each campus you would like to receive alerts from.

If your number has been validated and you’re signed up for a group but are still not receiving texts, email help@uw.edu.

• Login to and click Inactivate for each email address and cell phone number you would like to remove from your account.
• For text messages, you can also unsubscribe by replying STOP to any ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert text message or text STOP to 79516.
• For email messages, you can also unsubscribe by clicking Unsubscribe at the bottom of any ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert email message.

If your cell phone carrier isn’t listed when signing up for ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert text messages, choose Other. This setting will work for most non-standard carrier US and Canadian mobile phones. International carriers are not supported for text alerts.

If you’ve switched between major U.S. cell phone carriers, your service will likely forward automatically. You can test your ability to receive ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alerts via text message by texting TEST to 79516. If you receive a response message from Omnilert (the system that sends ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alerts), then you should receive future messages.

If you do not receive the test message, login to and update your cell phone carrier. If you need additional assistance, check with your cell phone provider or contact help@uw.edu.

No, international carriers are not supported for SMS text message alerts, only U.S.-based numbers.

To test that your cell phone will receive ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert messages, text the word TEST to 79516.

If you receive a response message from Omnilert (the system that sends ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alerts), then you should receive future messages.

If you do not receive the test message, login to your ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert account and check your settings.

If you have set up a personal firewall on your mobile device to block unknown senders of messages, add shortcodes 70359, 79516, 50911 and 84483 to your list of approved senders.

If you need additional assistance, contact help@uw.edu.

Log in to your account at . Click the link that says Activate to receive messages again.

When a reliable description of the person or people responsible for a crime is available, it will be included in the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert message or ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert blog. A suspect photo will be posted on the blog, if we have one. Suspect descriptions usually do not include race because they’ve proven inconsistent and unreliable. Research shows that the inclusion of race does not increase the likelihood a suspect will be identified and can do more harm than good.¹

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A ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert is sent when there’s an immediate potential threat to the safety of the campus community. If a serious crime has occurred on or near campus but does not pose immediate potential danger, the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø sends a in compliance with federal law requiring timely warning notification. This can happen when situations resolve too quickly for a ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alert message to be useful, or when a crime has occurred but wasn’t known or reported until later. The notification is sent via email to students, faculty and staff and posted on the .