San Francisco’s AlertSF emergency notification system went dark today after a nationwide outage at Everbridge, the company the city relies on to blast out mass text and email alerts. City emergency accounts quickly warned that AlertSF text and email messages were not getting through, even as officials worked to confirm that phone-based wireless emergency alerts were still able to reach residents. The disruption nudged San Franciscans to lean on backup official channels for critical updates.
On X, the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management posted that “AlertSF is currently unavailable due to a nationwide outage affecting Everbridge,” urging people to follow the department’s WhatsApp channel and the city’s preparedness pages for redundant information, according to the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management. The post added that city staff were coordinating with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services to help ensure phone-based alerts stay available during the Everbridge problem.
AlertSF is currently unavailable due to a nationwide outage affecting Everbridge, our emergency notification software provider.
— San Francisco Department of Emergency Management (@SF_emergency) June 27, 2026
We are working with Cal OES to ensure Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) remain available should an imminent threat to life or property require immediate… pic.twitter.com/3vrYWVE9h7
The city’s AlertSF sign-up portal is built on Everbridge’s platform, per AlertSF. When Everbridge reports a service issue, that vendor-level problem can ripple across local AlertSF text and email deliveries.
How wireless alerts and backups work
Wireless Emergency Alerts are a separate nationwide channel that sends emergency messages directly to cell phones through the federal IPAWS system, and state officials said they were coordinating to keep that channel operating during the outage. The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services describes Wireless Emergency Alerts as a nationwide system for life-safety notifications and offers guidance on how those alerts are used statewide.
How to get alerts right now
If you usually rely on AlertSF, officials advise double-checking that your contact details are current on the AlertSF portal and layering in the city’s ReadySF channels as backups. Per ReadySF, you can text your ZIP code to 888-777 to receive local messages and follow the Department of Emergency Management on its official social media accounts for live updates.
Why a vendor outage can be widespread
Everbridge provides mass-notification services to thousands of governments and large organizations, so a single platform failure can knock out alerts in multiple cities and counties at the same time. Everbridge notes that it is “trusted by over 6,500 customers worldwide,” a reminder of just how many jurisdictions lean on the same commercial system for urgent messaging.
