Overview
- The Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz (BBK) will trigger a probe alarm through the Modulares Warnsystem at 11:00 and send an Entwarnung at about 11:45 on Thursday, Sept. 10, using multiple channels including TV, radio, apps, digital signs and sirens.
- For 2026 the BBK will for the first time deliver the Entwarnung by Cell Broadcast, a mobile‑network push service enabled at the end of November 2025 that reaches switched‑on phones in a cell but needs recent OS versions to work on older devices.
- Participation by states and municipalities is voluntary, so some local channels such as sirens or loudspeaker vehicles will not sound everywhere and on‑the‑ground experience will vary across communities.
- States reported widely different siren infrastructures ahead of the test — for example Hamburg 205, Mecklenburg‑Vorpommern about 1,700, Hessen 4,074 (about 85% digitally controllable), Bavaria more than 11,000 and Sachsen‑Anhalt roughly 2,200 — reflecting uneven modernization and funding gaps.
- The BBK is collecting public feedback in an online survey from Sept. 10–17 and stresses that the national warning system remains available for real emergencies during the exercise, while authorities advise citizens to keep devices on and consider installing warning apps like NINA or KATWARN.