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Stormbell · Boilerplate LLC

Stormbell help

Answers to common questions about Stormbell, and how to reach us.

Contact us

Email support@boiler-plate.com, or use Send feedback in the app’s menu, or Contact support on its About and privacy page. Feedback from the app does not include your email address. If you would like an answer, email us, or put your address in your message.

You can also use the contact form on our support page. It is hosted by Tally, our feedback service.

Common questions

Does Stormbell replace my phone’s emergency alerts? No. Keep them on. Stormbell is an extra layer that lets you choose which alerts it tries to tell you about, and for which places.

Why didn’t I get a notification? Check these, in order:

  1. Notifications for Stormbell are allowed in your phone’s settings. On iPhone, allow Time Sensitive notifications for Stormbell too.
  2. The alert’s type is on in Stormbell’s Settings, and its severity, urgency and certainty meet the levels set there. Out of the box, Severe and Extreme alerts notify.
  3. An alert you were already told about stays quiet unless it gets worse (“Only notify for new or upgraded alerts”, on by default).
  4. For alerts where you are: “Alerts for where you are” is on, location is set to “Always”, and precise location is on.
  5. Background refresh is allowed. On iPhone: Background App Refresh is on, Low Power Mode is off, and you haven’t swiped the app away. On Android: battery optimization isn’t restricting Stormbell.
  6. Do Not Disturb or a Focus mode isn’t silencing it.

Your phone decides when background work runs, so an alert can arrive late, or not at all.

How do I check that alerts will sound? Open Test notifications on a place’s Edit page, on Where you are now, or in Settings. Each button plays what a real warning at that level would play there. If your settings would keep a real one quiet, the test arrives silently and says why. Tests are made on your phone; nothing leaves it.

What are Loud warnings? Seven life-threatening warnings get a louder sound: Tornado Warning, Tornado Emergency, Flash Flood Emergency, Extreme Wind Warning, Hurricane Warning, Typhoon Warning and Tsunami Warning. Loud warnings are on out of the box; you can turn them off in Settings.

  • On Android: they sound as an alarm, at your phone’s alarm volume, even in vibrate or silent mode, and repeat until you dismiss them. In Do Not Disturb they sound if Do Not Disturb allows alarms (Android’s default). Allow Stormbell “Do Not Disturb access” when the app asks, and they sound in every Do Not Disturb mode. They stay silent if the alarm volume is off.
  • On iPhone: they play a louder sound for up to 30 seconds. The silent switch mutes them, as it does every Stormbell sound. They get through a Focus if Time Sensitive notifications are allowed for Stormbell.

Why did a second warning sound quieter? Android lowers the sound of an app’s notifications when they come close together: one within about a minute of the last plays quieter, and one within about 10 seconds can be silent. This is Android’s notification cooldown. Loud warnings are alarms, so it does not touch them. To turn it off, look for “Notification cooldown” in your phone’s notification settings.

Can I set different sounds for each place? Yes. On a place’s Edit page, Sounds here offers:

  • Same as my main sounds (set in Settings);
  • Off: alerts there still show, with no sound or vibration;
  • Custom: its own sound for each level.

When you save a place, the app asks whether its alerts should make a sound. If one warning covers several of your places, it plays the loudest of their settings. Which alerts notify stays with Settings.

Can I turn off alerts for where I am? Yes: Where you are now → Edit → Alerts for where you are. When it is off, the app stops looking up alerts for your phone’s location. Your saved places still get theirs, and your phone’s location permission is unchanged.

Why does it ask for “Always” location, and for precise location? “Always” lets it check alerts for wherever you are while the app is closed. Precise location matters because some warnings cover a small area, and an approximate location can be miles off. You can say no to either. Saved places keep working.

What happens to my location? To look up alerts, the app sends the National Weather Service the coordinates of your places and, if you allow it, of your phone, rounded to about 100 meters. Google’s push service holds the weather zones and a rough area (about 3 miles across) for each of them, so alerts can reach you. Nothing is sent to us. The privacy policy has the details.

Why is the ZIP shown for where I am different from my mailing ZIP? The app shows the Census Bureau’s area that your phone is in, worked out on your phone. A building or PO box ZIP has no area of its own, so you see the ZIP around it. Near an edge, it can show the neighboring one.

Can I add a place I’m not at? Yes, by ZIP code. A ZIP-code place is the center of the Census Bureau’s area for that ZIP. ZIP codes used only for PO boxes or by the military are not in the app’s table. For the most exact place, use “I’m here now” while you are there, with precise location on.

How often does it check? New warnings arrive by push. The app also checks when you open or refresh it, and in the background as often as your phone allows: on Android, no more often than every 15 minutes.

What is History? It counts the app’s checks and pushes over the last 7 days and since you installed it, with an estimate of battery use. It stays on your phone. Copy summary puts those numbers on your clipboard, to paste into feedback if you like; it holds no place or location.

What does “unclear” mean? The weather service gave no rating (“Unknown”) for the alert’s severity, urgency or certainty, or rated its certainty “Unlikely”. The alert still shows. For notifications, that rating counts as the lowest level, so with the settings the app comes with, an alert whose severity is “Unknown” does not notify.

I’m outside the United States. Stormbell only has alerts for the United States and its territories, because the National Weather Service is its only source.

How do I move to a new phone? If your phone backs up app data, your places, their sound settings and your other settings come across when you restore the backup onto a new phone of the same kind. Moving between iPhone and Android carries nothing over, so add your places again.

Policies

© Boilerplate LLC. All rights reserved.

© Boilerplate LLC. All rights reserved.