iOS shows imminent missile warning across all devices in Hawaii

The people of Hawaii were in for an extremely abrupt awakening on Saturday as the iOS devices in the country suddenly started blaring an emergency alert saying that there is an 'imminent' missile threat and it is not a drill.

The photo was shared by a member of Congress and a military vet, Tulsi Gabbard. The alert was soon rectified by the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, which attributed the alert to a human error and soon issued a clarification that the alert was a false alarm and there is no imminent missile threat.

Apple's iOS is designed to receive AMBER alerts, which are alerts issued by the US government during emergencies, such as imminent threat to life and property by means of war or extreme weather.

The USA has employed an Emergency Broadcast System since the Cold War days, when most of the world was living in the shadow of the threat of nuclear annihilation. The EBS was reorganised into EAS, which was once again reorganised into the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System following intense criticism of the US government following Katrina in 2006.

IPAWS integrated all known means of delivering emergency alerts and the responsibility of using it was handed to FEMA, which authorises local Emergency Management Agencies to issue threat alerts as and when necessary.