# Alert San Diego — user reviews > 72 indexed App Store user reviews of Alert San Diego by County of San Diego, rated 3.10/5 from 92 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/alert-san-diego/id561733287/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/alert-san-diego/id561733287.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 28 · 4★ 10 · 3★ 18 · 2★ 12 · 1★ 24 ## What do users think of Alert San Diego? Overall sentiment: negative **Pros** - 👍 Good emergency information source - 🗺️ Helpful maps available - 🔔 Customizable notifications - ✅ Useful preparedness checklists - 💡 Great idea for an app **Cons** - 🐛 Frequent false alarms - 🐌 Slow information updates - ❌ Poor user interface - 🪲 Data not transferred from old app - 🚫 App freezes or crashes - ❓ Confusing UX - 🔗 Broken links in content - 🔇 Unhelpful notifications - 📱 No iPad version - 💻 App feels like a web browser **Commonly reported bugs** - App freezes on welcome splash screen or update prompts - Data not transferred from the old app - False earthquake alarms with incorrect location/distance - Disappearing notifications that don't appear in Disaster Info - App freezes on update screen - Interactive map feature is gone or inaccessible - Broken links in preparedness section - Videos have no sound and app crashes - App doesn't install on certain iOS versions - Junk notifications that are not true emergencies - Notification sound is too similar to smoke alarm - Emergency map goes to an ESRI login page - Map shows only one row of text - App doesn't open or shows error messages - Alert information is delayed or outdated - App gets stuck configuring or downloading data - Amber Alert sound cannot be disabled - Map shows icons but no useful information - Alerts are hours late or do not appear on the correct day - Discrepancy in news updates between iPhone and iPad - Cannot find notifications within the app - Map is unusable or pop-ups are off-screen - App overwrites existing emergency plans when importing new ones **Most requested features** - Make app compatible with iPad - Improve user interface for better usability - Ensure data transfer from old app - Fix bugs causing app freezes and crashes - Improve map functionality and accuracy - Provide more timely information updates - Filter notifications to only include true emergencies - Allow users to customize notification sounds - Integrate with Google Maps for dynamic interface - Add live streams of fire dispatch - Make preparedness section more robust with fewer broken links - Ensure app is not in beta state for critical features ## Newest reviews (17 of 72) ### 3/5 — No iPad version? *2025-10-26, version 9.0.1* If this is the new version ya would think that they could make an iPhone and an iPad version instead of just an iPhone sizedmone. ### 2/5 — Poor User Interface, didn’t keep my data from old app *2025-10-24, version 9.0.1* The designers don’t seem to know that when you pressing an area on the screen, that’s actually what you want to do. If you press the tiny dash (-) to close a section of the kit, and you only manage to get 47 percent of the dash pixels under your finger, the section stays expanded. Program this app for user friendliness in the real world! If we truly have an emergency, we don’t need to be focusing on keyboarding techniques. Also, none of the data I entered for the old app was transferred, so I have to redo the all the kit information - and they wonder why people aren’t prepared… ### 3/5 — Overall good app, DO NOT send alerts for app updates! *2025-10-24, version 9.0.1* Just got an alert from the app and thought there must be a fire near me. Checked the app and there were NO EMERGENCIES in the entire county. Only news was an app update. DO NOT SEND ALERTS FOR APP UPDATES - that's just dumb. ### 2/5 — Disappearing notifications *2025-01-22, version 8.6.3* The app seems to give me loud, annoying notifications, which show very little text on the Lock Screen. If I tap on them there, they often don’t appear in the Disaster Info, so I never know what they were about. I have Location Services set to share my location with the app Always. I suspect that the app filters messages not applicable to my location out of Disaster Info, but the developer forgot to apply that filter to Notifications. ### 3/5 — Good emergency info but earthquake false alarms *2024-02-16, version 8.6.1* I like how it is easy to get emergency info in one app. But the big problem is I just got a false alarm for a moderate earthquake nearby and nothing happened! Consequently, I disabled the earthquake alert functionality. ### 2/5 — Alarm Fatigue: Alerts are too frequent *2024-02-12, version 8.6.0* I was just woken up two times about a 5.5 mag earthquake one hundred miles from me. Why?! I deleted the app. Love the idea is the app, but if you send a blaring, loud notification about nothing in the middle of the night, the app kinda loses its purpose. ### 2/5 — No flooding info *2024-02-06, version 8.6.0* Zero information on the locations or severity of flooding throughout San Diego. ### 3/5 — Disappearing notifications *2024-02-01* The app seems to give me loud, annoying notifications, which show very little text on the Lock Screen. If I tap on them there, they often don’t appear in the Disaster Info, so I never know what they were about. I have Location Services set to share my location with the app Always. I suspect that the app filters messages not applicable to my location out of Disaster Info, but the developer forgot to apply that filter to Notifications. ### 2/5 — San Diego emergency App *2021-08-29, version 8.4.0* I really liked this app cool features. Then it wanted me to update for earthquake alerts apparently makes your phone shake. Anyway now it is stuck with the new feature staring me in the face but I can’t close it move it or do anything else it is frozen. Supposedly there is an update which might fix it but I cant find that. Don’t want to delete and lose my info. ### 3/5 — Shake alert freezing screen *2021-08-28, version 8.4.0* iPhone is freezing with single panel red on white typing describing upgrade but cannot exit screen and complete upgrade ### 4/5 — Design mat be better *2021-08-26, version 8.4.0* The app may be cool; however, the design & layout may be more Modetn of 21st century ### 3/5 — Hard to use *2020-09-16, version 8.3.2* Not easy to find info once you get a notification. Also I can’t delete old notifications. Not user-friendly app ### 2/5 — Not Particularly Helpful *2020-09-09, version 8.3.2* The county maps should be using Google Maps for a dynamic interface. The static maps that you can’t zoom in/out from aren’t all that helpful. This app should be updating the containment levels of fires and include info for weather like wind direction and speed. ### 3/5 — Good for emergencies slow on information *2019-12-08, version 8.3.1* It is an okay app. It gives alerts out but getting the information is slow. During the rain month, December 2019, I would get flash flood warnings from this app only to wait for the information. I was contact to WiFi. My weather app was faster in giving my the information on the flash floods in my area. It’s good to have. I am hoping the county will get the information out faster. ### 2/5 — Interactive map gone *2019-10-25, version 8.3.0* One of the most useful features of this app, the interactive map, is not accessible now. It just shows an isolated picture of an area without the ability to see the county as a whole. Why did that feature go away? ### 2/5 — Updates needed. Lives depend on it! *2019-08-01, version 8.2.55* See above. This app needs help. ### 2/5 — Filled with broken links *2018-06-04, version 8.2.55* This app may only be good for notifications and even that functionality is questionable. There is a big brush fire very close to my house with evacuations and there is no mention of it. The map simply shows library locations and the preparedness section is fraught with a ton of broken links. The videos have no sound and it crashes often. This app is mostly useless. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Liked the old app better *2025-10-24, version 9.0.1* I liked the old “SD Emergency” app better, had much more information and functionality. It was actually an app, as where this new one is clearly just a web browser pointing to alertSanDiego.com Oh and thanks for renaming it BTW, gave me a bit of paranoia for a second wondering how the city managed to push an app to my phone without my permission. And what was the part on the welcome splash screen about all this new functionality that ISNT THERE, like live streams of fire dispatch. ### 1/5 — False alarms *2024-10-06, version 8.6.3* This app woke up our house in the middle of the night just now with an earthquake it claimed was 1 mile away but was actually 808 miles away, not even close to San Diego. It rated the distant earthquake as “weak” as it blasted our home with full-volume air-raid style alarms, red emergency screens, and a map showing us and the earthquake in literally different states. Then after a hot minute, it realized the earthquake is 808 away, not 1 mile away as it first assumed, and cancelled the alert. The app clearly has a bug that incorrectly calculates the initial location and distance of an earthquake, causing it to report events that are (1) not close to us and (2) not even close to San Diego. This isn’t the first time this has happened with this app; therefore, we’re deleting it. We don’t want to get woken by false alarms. ### 1/5 — Locked up *2024-05-22, version 8.6.3* Yes, super not helpful…get a notice about a fire nearby and when I open to look??? A notice about getting signed up for earthquake notifications….and it just won’t go away!!!! Deleted and reloaded, tried providing access, still ended up with that notice blocking all access…whomever designed that, now is you microsecond of fame…. Please, for our safety, put your marketing geeks on a leash!!! The government REALLY IS INTERESTED IN KNOWING WHERE WE ARE EVERY MINUTE…but this is offensive and dangerous. ### 1/5 — False Alarm *2023-08-20, version 8.5.3* I have had this installed for less than 24 hours and it sent a false earthquake alarm. It said earthquake detected one mile from my location and to take cover. However, when I look at the map, it shows the event more than 150 miles from my current location. All the location settings and privileges are enabled and my VPN is off, so those are not the problem. If I cannot trust emergency alerts from an emergency alert application then it is useless. Advice to the product owner for this project: do not enable features in a beta state for this type of software. An emergency alert application should be reliable and well tested or not available for download at all. ### 1/5 — Earthquake alerts go off too frequently *2023-05-12, version 8.5.1* The earthquake alerts go off for any earthquake in the state regardless of distance! Please fix this! ### 1/5 — cannot update SD earthquake early warning *2021-08-26, version 8.4.0* app freezes. Now what???? ### 1/5 — Nice idea, very poor execution *2019-10-25, version 8.3.0* Most notices are for issues very far away. Three notices today for fires over 90 minutes from both where I am today and where my home is. Worse, there were no notices for the fire that burned to within a half mile of my home. While I was there. Again, good idea, but very poor execution. Ideally, the app would differentiate between issues that affect me and issues that affect others. And the settings would allow for that. For example, a problem 5 miles away should have a different notice and sense of urgency than a problem more than 50 miles away. Right now, those two issues are treated the same. Until that’s fixed, this will just be another useless County program. ### 1/5 — Doesn’t install on iOS 11.2.6 *2018-03-21, version 8.2.55* Doesn't install on iOS 11.2.6. Worked fine on iOS 10.3.3. Please update! ### 1/5 — Junk notifications *2017-12-09, version 8.2.55* I downloaded this app during the SoCal wildfires to receive updates about the Lilac fire's proximity to my location and other need-to-know alerts. Unfortunately, I now receive dozens of junk push alerts that are not truly emergency alerts. Some recent ones include: -"Cleaning Ash from Property and Pools"; -"Staying Prepared for Continuing High Fire Risk Conditions"; -"What do Do During a Power Outage"; and, -"Looking for a Way to Help? Monetary Donations Recommended." There is no way to select which alerts you receive and it's really ridiculous that I'm receiving these junk alerts- if I really needed to know how to clean ash from my pool, I could certainly Google it. I don't need to be interrupted during work or when I'm sleeping with a fire-alarm sounding tone just for these spam-y notifications. To me, it seems like quite a manipulation of the App and so far gone from the App's supposed intention. ### 1/5 — Notification sound same frequency as fire alarm *2017-12-09, version 8.2.55* I had to uninstall it. The notification sound is the same/similar frequency as a smoke alarm and my dog freaked out every time I received a notification. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Old reviews *2025-10-25, version 9.0.1* Please update your reviews. ### 5/5 — Nobody uses because… *2025-09-18, version 8.6.3* I’m reviewing this emergency app because these are very outdated reviews. I mean over 10 years ago?? Well it’s 2025 September and I downloaded it to my newer iPhone running updates IOS! Lots of info and didn’t have a terrible time loading any info. A lot of important information is in this app! Plus earthquake preparedness and the maps are great (USGS)! Straight forward app, & isn’t horrible in any way. We all need to remember it’s all about being prepared,& having a few options. This app is a one part of a larger disaster preparedness tool kit (go bag, water, food, pet food, batteries, medicine, blankets, flashlights etc) we all should have! ### 5/5 — A Must For SoCal Residents *2024-08-11, version 8.6.3* Great app! Despite several critics’ reviews below (dating as far back as 6 years), notifications can be personally tailored and are limited to providing helpful information during fires, dangerous heatwaves, and the like. It also is a one-stop repository for disaster preparedness—what to do in an earthquake, fire, tsunami, etc.—and provides up-to-the-minute instructions straight from the source regarding evacuation orders and routes, including maps. Highly recommend for anyone not wanting to wait for the news to learn of a potentially catastrophic event! ### 5/5 — A must-download for SD residents *2018-03-08, version 8.2.55* I don’t understand the negative reviews. This app is fantastic. I downloaded it after the fires last year, and yesterday received a text, email, push notification, and phone call of my neighborhood being evacuated (gas pipeline rupture). This app can literally be a life saver. ### 5/5 — Very Informative! *2014-09-13, version 8.2.24* This App is excellent and was very helpful during the May 14th, 2014 Carlsbad Fire! Thank you & keep up the great work! ### 5/5 — Minor changes, but better functionality *2014-08-27, version 8.2.24* Keep it up ### 5/5 — SD Emergency *2014-05-17, version 8.2.10* During recent fires in North County I found this app an INCREDIBLE source of up to the minute information. Provided maps showing exactly where the fires were, as well as UP TO THE MINUTE official detailed information on the fires, evacuations, shelters, etc. As I was away during these fires, I was scratching for info on the internet until a neighbor told me about this app. It became my primary source for information. Absolutely surpassed everything!!! Easy to use, continually updated with LATEST info. Nothing is perfect, but I cannot find any fault. In short, a MUST have. Someone has done a wonderful job! ### 5/5 — This app was great during the recent fires! *2014-05-17, version 8.2.10* This app provided faster up to date information than Nixle, was accurate, and didn't have any bugs. Good job San Diego. ### 5/5 — FABtastic! *2014-05-15, version 8.2.10* Really helping to keep me up to date with the fires. Love all the info and real time updates. Also the numbers to shelters, volunteer programs and more. ### 5/5 — This app has helped a ton! *2014-01-07, version 8.2.10* Living in areas where fires are constant year-round, this app helps keep me informed first about what's going on and how best to evacuate if necessary like we've had to many times over the last several years. I also love knowing that my husband and kids have access to our emergency plan on here should we get separated or anything. Great tool all around. :) --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-21.*