FEMA 4+

I understand the idea of an app as supplementary

I wish there was infirmation on where to find all this if the emergency includes not having any access to the web (and probably an afterthought because by the time you realize it it will be in full swing because you dont have any other way anymore in which you get warnings like weather reports or any contingency plans that the public is informed via public service announcements anymore like it used to on radio or tv. We really rely on an app now for this? Kind of a bad contingency plan - I seem to remember beibg in Paris in 2017 when the customs and security servers and computers went down in the airport. That was a great mess. Hmmm no one seems to think that was something to learn from. oh well, I guess I can go study what I think has been planned and then go wander around ahead of time so I become familiar with the road to the last bottle of water and toilet paper in my local grocery. Or look up and write down all the ways I can get in touch with my cell carrier to tell them my service is not working. Does anyone have a white pages phone book? I have to report it online now because they no longer have people answering phones for customer service.

Wakes us in the middle of the night with minor alerts

So the freeze warning was extended, or maybe some other fairly normal weather event gets reported, and the weather alert notification dings and wakes us at all times of the night. I like to keep the sound on for notification in case there is some real extreme weather developing, but I really don’t care to be advised that a freeze advisory has been extended at 2:15 am.

I should be allowed to define what types of weather I consider critical or minor, and the notification with sound should only be used for what I define as critical events. A farmer may have different needs than a taxi driver or a builder or a writer of suspense novels, just to name a few.

95% of all the alerts are for things I either know about (I looked at the forecast, I can hear the thunder or the heavy rain, etc), or have a reasonable expectation will not affect me much (flash flooding typically doesn’t affect the places I go, beyond the fact that visibly heavy rain creates conditions for hydroplaning).

Developer Response ,

Thank you for your feedback. Our development team is currently working on new features that will allow users to customize the alerts they receive for each location they enter. We value your input and will continue to use it to inform the design and development of the FEMA App.

Only OK

The information is there, so that’s good, but generally the App is a little clumsy and doesn’t have the most intuitive UI.
A couple of things I’d like to see the developer address please:
1. Notifications: if my App has a red number “badge” meaning there’s a (quantity of) new notification(s) in the app, this should be intuitive to find, and reflect the number.
My expectation: red badge “2” = open app and see 2 new alerts.
If an alert has expired and is no longer there, it shouldn’t be in the badge alert count. Thank you.
2. Request: it would be really useful to have a “share” button on the alerts. E.g. We run a small family rural Ag business and I try to share occasional frost Alerts with our customers (like a sudden frost after a warm spell or first frost of the season). “Share” would be great.
I especially want to always share “do not burn” alerts on business Facebook page. Currently I take a screen shot, but the alert is usually longer than one screenshot.
Thank you for reading and I hope these changes are possible.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for your feedback. We are happy to hear that you would like to share the alerts with your customers. We have plans to add a "share" function this year. We value your input and are committed to improving our app based on user feedback.