Zello’s Emergency Alert feature allows users to send messages notifying a designated channel of an emergency situation with the touch of a talk screen button. When an alert is initiated, 10 seconds of audio is automatically recorded and sent alongside the user’s location to the designated channel. 

Designated emergency channels can be configured to meet your team's needs. Admins can configure settings that determine the expected behavior of emergency alerts, as well as user roles that determine channel members' actions and nature of communications. 

This article explains the possible configurations associated with Emergency Alerts. 

Network Settings

The following settings can be configured from the Management Console's Settings tab (Settings > Common > Emergency Alerts). Note that these settings can be configured via user templates; consider utilizing templates if you'd like different users to be assigned to different emergency channels. 

• Use the drop down to designate the network channel that’ll receive emergency alerts. 

  When an alert is triggered, users in this channel will receive the user’s location as well as 10 seconds of uninterrupted, hot-mic audio. 

  If you’d like to turn off emergency alerts, click the blue circular arrow. This will configure the channel value to “not set.” As a result, the Emergency button on the talk screen will disappear, and users won’t be able to send an emergency alert. Note that users who you'd like to be able to send emergency alert should be included in this emergency channel. 

• Configure the length of time an alert initiator must hold the Emergency button before the countdown to send begins. 

  Note that this solely applies to the length of time the emergency button is held before the countdown begins; the countdown itself will always be 5 seconds. When the emergency button is pressed, the device will vibrate and a status bar will load—once that status bar is full (indicating the configured time hold has been reached), the 5 second countdown will begin. 

  
  
  

• When this setting is enabled, users must tap a second button confirming they wish to send the emergency alert. 

  If the alert isn’t confirmed before the countdown, it'll be canceled and won’t be sent—decreasing the likelihood that emergency alerts are accidentally triggered.
  

Emergency Channel Roles 

User roles can be applied to emergency channels to minimize communication chaos and ensure targeted, prioritized responses. Role configuration includes a type, as well as additional role-specific settings. 

To access and configure user roles, open your designated emergency channel. (Note: If you’re utilizing user templates, you may have more than 1 emergency channel). Multiple roles can be created for one channel. 

Find the Roles section; click the gear icon to the right of an existing role to edit its configuration, or click the + icon to create a new role. 

Role Types

Role types define the nature of communication a user can perform in the channel. They include the following permissions: listen only, speak to anyone, speak to selected roles, speak to users without roles, use only during active emergencies*. 

Note: types/settings marked with an asterisk * are only available once you’ve designated a channel as an emergency channel. They will not appear otherwise. 

• When selected, users assigned this role can’t send messages to the emergency channel. The talk screen will be greyed out, and the Emergency button disappeared. They will, however, hear all communications sent in the channel. 

  

• When selected, this role’s messages will be sent to the entire channel. No limitations are placed around who receives the user's message. 
• When configured, messages sent by users in this role will only be delivered to users assigned the selected role. 
  
  This may be useful if you'd like to distinguish between an emergency initiator and an emergency responder role; the initiator's role could be configured so that messages are only delivered to the responder role, and the responder's role configured to "can speak to anyone."
• When selected, this role’s messages will only be sent to those who haven’t been assigned a role in the channel. 

• When selected, users assigned to this role can only talk in an emergency channel when another user has actively started an emergency. 

  If an active emergency doesn’t exist, the user’s talk screen button will be greyed out (see below). Nevertheless, users in the emergency channel assigned this role will hear others’ emergencies—a key difference between this role type and the “Connect only on triggering emergency” setting described in the Role Settings section. 

  This prevents accidental messages in the emergency channel while still allowing all users to engage with an emergency situation. 

  

Role Settings

Settings define the actions a user can take in the emergency channel. They include talk priority; can disconnect from channel; can send alerts to channel; can end emergencies. 

• Talk priority allows a role’s communications to take precedence over others. This may be a useful configuration if you’d like the communications of immediate responders to be prioritized.

• If enabled, users can disconnect from the emergency channel. 

  Enablement will also afford the ability to set parameters for an auto-disconnect timeout. When a user is inactive for the configured period of time, they’ll be automatically disconnected from the channel. This isn't frequently used in conjunction with Emergency Alerts—it's not a recommended configuration for most networks. 

• NOTE: this setting will only appear if Can disconnect from channel is enabled.

  When enabled, this setting only allows users to send, receive, or hear messages in the emergency channel if they have actively triggered an emergency themselves. 

  Users assigned this configuration won’t be aware of any other emergencies triggered in the channel—they’ll only hear channel communications when they trigger an alert from their device (i.e. when someone is responding to their alert). 

  It’s designed to minimize chatter in the channel; if utilizing this role, it’s recommended you also create a responder role that remains connected to the channel and handles the emergency situation. 

• If enabled, users can send channel alerts (note: not emergency alerts). 

  While this feature is distinctly different from emergency alerts—and isn’t directly applicable to user roles assigned for emergency alert purposes—it can complement the feature. 

  Channel alert senders choose if they’d like to send their alert to either all users (both those connected and disconnected from the channel) or solely connected users. Emergency alerts, on the other hand, are only sent to connected users.

• When enabled, users assigned this role can end emergency notifications—potentially a helpful tool if you are worried users will forget to end their own emergencies.
  
  If not enabled, only the alert’s sender can end the alert. This is the default behavior of emergency alerts, and it helps ensure alerts aren't prematurely ended.