Monthly Meeting 3

Getting your mobile devices disaster ready

March 25, 2025

Monthly Meeting #3 was a short 30 minute Zoom Webinar titled “Getting your mobile devices disaster ready” (phones, ipads)

The  recording  is linked on youtube above as is the presentation with presenter notes (featuring links to the discussed topics or applications. Sorry about the weird formatting of the slides, that was the only way I could find to include the links from the presenter notes... (Also, if someone is a Zoom guru, I have some questions about recordings 🥸)

While the webinar featured iphone apps exclusively, most if not all of the functionality discussed is available on Android phones and tablets also. Please use Google to find analogues and also dive into more details or tutorials if you need to. The presentation here was fast and purposely high level (rather than explaining each setting or app)

Topics discussed were:

• why your mobile device can do a LOT during disaster response (and specifically CERT deployments)

• how to save battery power

• offline Google and Apple maps

• wifi calling

• take photos of everything

• enable locations for photos

• airdrop to very quickly share photos

• screenshots (of any app)

• recording & transcribing conversations and sounds

• using timers to remind your radio op to call into ICP regularly

• magnifier app for small text and wounds

• translate app

• 3rd party Apps:

  • Genasys Protect (previoulsy Zonehaven) for evac zone maps, alerts

  • Pulsepoint Respond (SMC, WFPD dispatches)

  • Watch Duty for fire updates

  • First Aid by American Red Cross for ad hoc refreshers on symptoms, treatment

  • Scanner apps to monitor radio traffic

• Websites

  • Alert California (previously Alert Wildfire) live & timelapses of hundreds of fire monitoring cameras

  • AM1680 PV radio station

  • other useful websites (more TBD)

• Suggestions from attendees:

  • caltopo, organic maps

  • noaa weather maps and windy.com (for loooots of weather info layers)

  • myshake app for earthquake

Please continue to share useful tips, apps, websites for CERT response on our Slack #general channel !

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