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Pixel Launcher, ‘At a Glance’ unintentionally sends out Philippines storm warning globally

A year ago, the Pixel Launcher and At a Glance widget started showing severe weather alerts. However, an error today caused Google to send out a “Public Storm Warning” that was just meant for the Philippines around the world, with Pixel users particularly impacted.

Pixel owners earlier today, especially as they were waking up, saw a “Public Storm Warning #1” on their always-on display (AOD), lockscreen, and main homescreen. Issued by “PAGASA,” or the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration, this was the first indication that something was amiss.

For some reason, Google showed the alert intended for the Philippines worldwide, including to users located across the US, Canada, and Europe. In our case, a tap gets rid of the alert, but it was still a surprising – if not momentarily frightening – experience for those acclimated to getting weather alerts from their phone. 

Like before, you can disable storm warnings in the Pixel Launcher on Google devices by long-pressing on the top space > Customize > gear icon (next to At a Glance) and then clicking the third “Alerts” option in the below list.

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Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com

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