{
  "id": "disaster/rcb-alert-sms-not-rso-app",
  "signature": "AI tells someone in Poland they must download an app (or the RSO app specifically) to receive RCB Alert emergency warnings",
  "signature_zh": "",
  "regex": "(alert rcb|rcb alert|poland emergency alert app|regionalny system ostrzegania)",
  "domain": "disaster",
  "category": "hazard_misjudgment",
  "subcategory": null,
  "root_cause": "Poland's Government Centre for Security (RCB) delivers Alert RCB warnings (armed threat, flood, extreme weather, industrial accident) as a direct SMS broadcast to every phone connected to a mobile mast inside the danger area, mandated for all operators since a 2018 amendment to the Telecommunications Law and the Crisis Management Act. No app install or registration is needed. Alert RCB is a separate system from RSO (Regionalny System Ostrzegania), a free MSWiA-run mobile app that publishes more detailed, voivodeship-level warnings compiled by regional crisis-management centres; the two run in parallel, and provincial centres also relay an Alert RCB message through the RSO app, but RSO itself does require an install.",
  "root_cause_type": "generic",
  "root_cause_zh": "",
  "versions": [
    {
      "version": "any",
      "introduced": null,
      "deprecated": null,
      "removed": null,
      "behavior_change": null,
      "status": "active"
    }
  ],
  "os_specific": {},
  "dead_ends": [
    {
      "action": "Tell a traveler or resident they need to download an app - especially the RSO (Regionalny System Ostrzegania) app - before they can receive Poland's national emergency alerts",
      "why_fails": "RCB's own FAQ states Alert RCB is not part of the RSO application and that no app or program needs to be installed to receive it: operators broadcast a warning SMS to every phone connected to a mast in the designated area, regardless of carrier or handset. RSO is a genuinely separate, MSWiA-run app for more detailed voivodeship-level warnings - conflating the two produces a false 'you must install something' instruction for the primary channel.",
      "fail_rate": 0.65,
      "condition": "Mobile phone connected to a mast in the designated danger area",
      "sources": [
        "https://www.gov.pl/web/rcb-en/rcb-alert--faq",
        "https://www.gov.pl/web/mswia/regionalny-system-ostrzegania"
      ]
    },
    {
      "action": "Describe Alert RCB as a cell-broadcast (Wireless Emergency Alert-style) system, the way some other EU countries' 112-based alerting works",
      "why_fails": "Polish public broadcaster TVP Info's explainer states Alert RCB sends 'automatyczne komunikaty wysyłane drogą SMS-ową' (automatic messages sent via SMS) - it is SMS delivery via mobile network operators targeting a geographic area (down to county level), not the cell-broadcast technology used elsewhere.",
      "fail_rate": 0.4,
      "condition": "Explaining the underlying delivery technology",
      "sources": [
        "https://www.tvp.info/88864545/regionalny-system-ostrzegania-rso-i-rzadowe-centrum-bezpieczenstwa-rcb-jak-dzialaja-te-systemy-i-czym-sie-roznia-rso-pozwala-korzystac-z-aplikacji-rcb-to-automatyczne-komunikaty-wysylane-droga-sms-owa"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "workarounds": [
    {
      "action": "Keep a phone powered on with normal network coverage while in Poland; no app, registration, or setting change is required to receive Alert RCB",
      "success_rate": 0.85,
      "how": "",
      "condition": "General presence in Poland",
      "sources": [
        "https://www.gov.pl/web/rcb-en/rcb-alert--faq"
      ]
    },
    {
      "action": "Additionally install the free RSO app if more detailed, region-specific warnings (compiled by your voivodeship's crisis management centre) are wanted on top of the baseline SMS alerts",
      "success_rate": 0.7,
      "how": "RSO is published by the Ministry of Interior and Administration (MSWiA) and covers content curated by Wojewódzkie Centra Zarządzania Kryzysowego; it is a supplement to, not a replacement for, Alert RCB.",
      "condition": "Wants region-specific detail beyond the SMS alert",
      "sources": [
        "https://www.gov.pl/web/mswia/regionalny-system-ostrzegania"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "workarounds_zh": [],
  "transition_graph": {
    "leads_to": [],
    "preceded_by": [],
    "frequently_confused_with": [
      "emergency/112-eu-emergency/pl"
    ]
  },
  "official_doc_url": null,
  "official_doc_section": null,
  "error_code": null,
  "verification_tier": "ai_generated",
  "confidence": 0.65,
  "fix_success_rate": 0.85,
  "resolvable": "true",
  "first_seen": "2026-08-25",
  "last_confirmed": "2026-08-25",
  "last_updated": "2026-08-25",
  "evidence_count": 3,
  "tags": [],
  "locale": "en",
  "aliases": [
    "disaster/rcb-alert-sms-not-rso-app/pl"
  ]
}