This app will warn you before an earthquake hits the West Coast - CNBC

Thousands of California residents were alerted up of Tuesday's magnitude 5.1 earthquake successful the Bay Area, acknowledgment to the MyShake app.

The app, which was developed by the Berkeley Seismology Lab, alerted 95,000 devices of the earthquake up to 18 seconds earlier the quake, advising users to "drop, screen and clasp on," said officials from the California Office of Emergency Management and USGS.

Since Tuesday's alert, signups for the app person surged, with implicit 2 cardinal registered phones, according to the app's information page.

Anyone tin download the MyShake app, but the strategy is lone afloat operational successful California, Oregon and Washington. And you should person alerts careless of whether oregon not your telephone is connected "Do Not Disturb," but the app volition lone fto you cognize if a 3.5 magnitude earthquake oregon supra is detected.

Here's however to download and usage it.

• Download the MyShake app connected Apple's App Store, oregon successful the Google Play store if you person an Android phone.
• Open the app.
• It volition inquire if you privation to let it to way your determination and nonstop you notifications and captious alerts. Select "Allow" for notifications and alerts. You'll inactive person exigency alerts adjacent if you don't let MyShake to way your location.
• Choose whether you unrecorded successful California, Oregon, oregon Washington.
• Inside the app, you'll spot caller earthquakes, study earthquakes you acquisition and larn information techniques. Each of these options is disposable by toggling done the options connected the bottommost paper of the app that is positioned horizontally connected the screen.
• You'll person a large notification connected your telephone erstwhile an earthquake is astir to hit. A connection volition look and counsel you to "drop, screen and clasp on," giving you a fewer seconds informing to support yourself.

If you've ever noticed that an app you request has uninstalled, that's due to the fact that there's a mounting enabled called "Offload Apps" that automatically uninstalls apps you haven't utilized successful a portion successful bid to optimize retention space. You mightiness lone request this app erstwhile you usage it, truthful you should crook disconnected the enactment to "offload unused apps" connected your telephone first. Here's however to disable this setting.

1. Open Settings.
2. Select App Store.
3. Turn disconnected the Offload Unused Apps option.

That's it!