AT&T to update iPhone 5, iPhone 4S with wireless emergency alert support

AT&T has announced that it will be pushing a small, over the air update out to the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S which will add support for the Wireless Emergency Alert System. The system, which went live about a year ago, is designed to send out three types of alerts: presidential alerts for national emergencies, AMBER alerts for missing children, and severe weather alerts.

AT&T’s update will add a new section to the notifications settings on the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S allowing users to toggle both AMBER alerts and weather alerts, but presidential alerts can’t be turned off. All of the alerts will be set to “on” by default. The update will begin rolling out immediately and is relatively small — though AT&T says that it won’t charge for the data it takes to download it. The few users who aren’t yet on iOS 6.1 or higher won’t get the update.