Best Emergency Preparedness Apps (2026): Alerts, First Aid & Off-Grid Texting
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Updated November 2026
Your phone is the most powerful piece of emergency gear you own, as long as the right apps are on it before the storm, fire or quake. These are the free apps worth installing today, the phone settings to turn on, and the gear that keeps it all working when the power and cell towers go down.
Do this now, not during the emergency. Install the apps, sign in, set your locations and download offline maps while you still have power and a fast connection. App stores and cell networks are the first things to get overloaded in a disaster.
Best Emergency Apps at a Glance
| What you need | App | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Government alerts and shelters | FEMA | Free |
| Weather alerts and open shelters | Red Cross Emergency | Free |
| Wildfires | Watch Duty | Free (paid extras) |
| Earthquakes (CA, OR, WA) | MyShake | Free |
| First aid | Red Cross First Aid | Free |
| Walkie-talkie over cell or Wi-Fi | Zello | Free |
| Texting with no cell service | Meshtastic (with a radio) | Free app |
| Maps with no signal | Organic Maps | Free |
| Finding gas after a storm | GasBuddy | Free |
Jump to:
- Phone settings to turn on
- Alert apps
- First aid
- Staying in touch
- Maps and fuel
- For CERT and EMS volunteers
- Gear that keeps your phone working
Turn On What’s Already on Your Phone
Some of the most useful emergency tools don’t need a download.
Wireless Emergency Alerts. These are the loud alerts that come straight from authorities for extreme weather, evacuations and AMBER alerts. Check that they’re switched on in your phone’s notification settings (iPhone: Settings, Notifications, Government Alerts; Android: search your settings for “Wireless emergency alerts”). Ready.gov
Medical ID or Emergency information. Add your allergies, medications, blood type and emergency contacts so a first responder can see them from the lock screen without your passcode. On iPhone it’s in the Health app; on Android, search your settings for “Emergency information.”
Satellite SOS. Newer phones can text 911 by satellite when there’s no cell signal at all, as long as you can see the sky. It’s built in at no extra cost on iPhone 14 and newer and on Google Pixel 9 (not 9a) and Pixel 10 phones. Samsung Galaxy S25 and newer can do it on Verizon, and T-Mobile’s T-Satellite service adds it to many other phones for about $10 a month. Try the built-in demo once so you know how it works. Techlicious
Location sharing. Share your location with your family ahead of time in Apple’s Find My or Google Maps, so you can find each other if you get separated.
Copies of your documents. Scan your IDs, insurance cards and policies so they’re with you even if the paper isn’t. Our Important Documents checklist covers what to keep and how to protect it.
Alert Apps
FEMA
Federal Emergency Management Agency · iPhone and Android
Weather alerts from the National Weather Service for up to five locations, so you can watch your home, your parents’ place and your kids’ school at the same time. It also maps open shelters and disaster recovery centers, and you can apply for federal disaster assistance right from the app.
Red Cross Emergency
American Red Cross · iPhone and Android
National Weather Service alerts, live weather maps, step-by-step guides for every kind of disaster, and the locations of open Red Cross shelters near you. The Red Cross now puts all of its hazard alerts in this one app.
Watch Duty
Watch Duty (nonprofit) · iPhone and Android
Real-time wildfire alerts in plain language, with fire maps, wind direction, air quality and red-flag warnings, posted by a team that monitors fire radio around the clock. It started in California and has covered the whole country since December 2025. The core app is free and ad-free; advanced maps and aircraft tracking are paid extras. Watch Duty
MyShake
California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and UC Berkeley Seismology Lab · iPhone and Android
Earthquake early warnings from the USGS ShakeAlert system in California, Oregon and Washington. A few seconds of warning is enough to drop, cover and hold on before the shaking reaches you.
First Aid
Red Cross First Aid
American Red Cross · iPhone and Android
Simple step-by-step instructions, with videos, for the most common emergencies: bleeding, burns, choking, broken bones, heart attack, stroke and more. The guides are stored on the phone, so they work without a signal.
Have pets? The Red Cross Pet First Aid app does the same for dogs and cats.
An app is no substitute for training. Take a first aid and CPR class, and keep a real kit in your bag; our first aid kit guide shows what goes in it.
Staying in Touch
Zello
Zello · iPhone and Android
Turns your phone into a push-to-talk walkie-talkie over any cell or Wi-Fi connection. Volunteer rescuers used it to coordinate boat rescues during Hurricane Harvey, and it works on a weak signal where calls fail. Set up a channel for your family before you need it.
Meshtastic
Meshtastic (open source) · iPhone and Android
When the cell towers are down, Meshtastic lets you text with no cell service and no internet at all. You pair your phone with a small LoRa radio, and the radios pass messages to each other, hopping from radio to radio to reach people miles away. No license is needed in most places.
You need a radio for each person, so buy at least two. We recommend one below.
For a full plan that doesn’t depend on any one app, read our 7-step emergency communication plan and the off-grid communication guide.
Maps and Fuel
Organic Maps
Organic Maps (open source) · iPhone and Android
Free, private maps that work with no signal. Download your state before you need it and you’ll still have turn-by-turn directions and hiking trails when the network is down. (Google Maps can also save offline areas; search “offline maps” in its menu.)
GasBuddy
GasBuddy · iPhone and Android
Before and after hurricanes, GasBuddy switches on a fuel availability tracker that shows which stations still have gas and power. When half the stations in town are dry, that saves you a lot of driving.
For CERT, EMS and Other Volunteers
If you volunteer with a CERT team, a fire department or EMS, these are worth having on your phone too.
- PulsePoint Respond: alerts CPR-trained people to a nearby cardiac arrest and shows where the closest AED is. It works where your local fire or EMS agency has signed up.
- Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG 2024): the Department of Transportation’s hazmat guide for the first 30 minutes of a chemical spill or crash, as an app.
- CAMEO Chemicals: NOAA’s database of hazardous chemicals and how they react.
- NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards: exposure limits and protective gear for hundreds of chemicals.
- Red Cross Resuscitation: BLS, ALS, PALS and NALS guidelines, code cards and timers.
The National Library of Medicine’s WISER app, a favorite for hazmat, was discontinued in February 2023; the tools above cover most of what it did. CHEMM
Gear That Keeps Your Phone Working
The best app in the world is useless on a dead phone. Keep a charged power bank in your bag, a way to recharge it, and for real off-grid backup, a radio or satellite messenger that doesn’t need cell towers at all. More options are in our portable power guide.
Anker 10,000 mAh Power Bank with Built-in USB-C Cable
Typical Price: $30
A pocket-size 10,000 mAh power bank with its own USB-C cable built in, so you can’t forget the cord, and 30W fast charging. Small enough to live in a WUSH Bag.
BLAVOR 10,000 mAh Solar Power Bank
Typical Price: $36
A 10,000 mAh power bank with a built-in solar panel to top it up when the outlets are dead. The panel is slow, so charge it from the wall first and use the sun as your backup.
Anker SOLIX C300 DC Power Station with 60W Solar Panel
Typical Price: $270
For a multi-day outage at home: a lunchbox-size power station that recharges phones, radios and a laptop many times over, with a folding 60W solar panel to refill it.
Garmin inReach Mini 2 Satellite Communicator
Typical Price: $318
Two-way satellite texting and SOS from anywhere with a view of the sky, on its own satellite network, plus location sharing for your family. It needs a Garmin subscription.
SenseCAP Card Tracker T1000-E for Meshtastic
Typical Price: $51
A credit-card-size LoRa radio that pairs with the free Meshtastic app over Bluetooth, so you can text other Meshtastic users with no cell service at all. Buy one for each person you want to reach.
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