Iranians Don’t Have a Missile Alert System, So Volunteers Built Their Own Warning Map | WIREDSkip to main contentMenuSECURITYPOLITICSTHE BIG STORYBUSINESSSCIENCECULTUREREVIEWSMenuAccountAccountNewslettersSecurityPoliticsThe Big StoryBusinessScienceCultureReviewsChevronMoreExpandThe Big InterviewMagazineEventsWIRED InsiderWIRED ConsultingNewslettersPodcastsVideoLivestreamsMerchSearchSearchMatt Burgess Lily Hay NewmanSecurityMar 25, 2026 5:00 AMIranians Don’t Have a Missile Alert System, So Volunteers Built Their Own Warning MapThe crowdsourced website and app Mahsa Alert provides citizens in Iran with crucial information amid the country’s ongoing war with the US and Israel—and an internet blackout.Rocket trails are seen in the sky amid a fresh barrage of Iranian missile attacks above the Israeli coastal city of Netanya, on March 17, 2026.Photograph: Jack Guez; Getty ImagesCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storySince Donald Trump’s war on Iran started more than three weeks ago, United States military forces have allegedly attacked more than 9,000 sites, creating a climate of fear and constant uncertainty for Iranians in Tehran and across the country. Without an advanced warning system from the government, and amid the longest internet shutdown in Iran’s history, Iranians are left in an information void.Even before Israel and the United States began dropping bombs, Iran’s lack of a public emergency alert tool and severe state-controlled digital oppression has impacted tens of millions of citizens. Since the 12-day Israel-Iran war last year, though, a group of Iranian digital rights activists and volunteers has been working to fill the gap with a dynamic, regularly updated mapping platform called Mahsa Alert. The project can’t replace real-time early alerts that could come from a coordinated government service, but the tool sends push notifications when Israeli forces warn about attacks, details some confirmed strike locations, and offers offline mapping capabilities.“There is no emergency alert in Iran,” says Ahmad Ahmadian, the president and CEO of US-based digital rights group Holistic Resilience, which is behind Mahsa Alert and has been developing the platform since last summer. “This was where we saw the traction, we saw the need, and we continued working on it with the volunteers, with some [open source intelligence] experts, and used this to map the repression machinery ecosystem of Iran and surveillance.”Mahsa Alert is a website but also has Android and iOS apps, which were intentionally designed to be lightweight and easy to use on any device. Given the heavy government connectivity control inside Iran and erratic access to the internet, volunteers also prioritized engineering the platform for offline use. And it can be easily updated if a user does get connectivity for a brief period by downloading APK files that contain new data. The team works to keep these updates extremely small; a recent release was 60 kilobytes, and Ahmadian says they are typically no more than 100 kilobytes.One overlay on Mahsa Alerts plots the locations of “confirmed attacks” that Ahmadian says his team or other OSINT investigators have verified, using video footage or images that are submitted to a Telegram bot or shared on social media. There are also warnings about areas where Israeli forces have issued evacuation alerts, along with the crucial component of people submitting reports on what is happening around them.“We have to go through a due diligence and verification process and tag them before putting them on the map,” Ahmadian says of the reported attacks and incidents, adding that the team has a backlog of more than 3,000 reports that it is working through or is unable to verify. Along with attempting to map strikes, the team behind Mahsa Alert have also plotted “danger zones” that could be at risk of attack—such as sites linked to Iran’s nuclear program or military—so ordinary citizens can stay away from them. Ahmadian claims 90 percent of attacks it has confirmed were at sites that were already present on the map. “Some of them that we can confirm, we do it because [a user] has shared a photo or they have shared some details that makes them verifiable,” he says.The map also includes locations of thousands of CCTV cameras, suspected government checkpoints, and other domestic infrastructure. Medical facilities, such as hospitals and pharmacies, are included on the map along with other resources like the locations of religious sites and past protests.Mahsa Alert has become more visible on global social media feeds as Iranians around the world share details from the map, encouraging people to look into the service and flagging it for friends and family who could use it as a resource. “The app went from near zero to over 100,000 daily active users in a matter of days,” Ahmadian says, adding that in total there have been around 335,000 users this year, with people first turning to the app during the Iranian regime’s brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters in January. Through the limited user information the app collects, Ahmadian claims there are signs that 28 percent of users are accessing the platform from inside Iran.Proximally, Mahsa Alert grew out of a need for information about on-the-ground conditions across Iran. It is named in reference to Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old whose death in police custody in Iran led to widespread reform protests in 2022. After years of upheaval and a concerted effort by the Iranian regime to exert extensive control over digital connectivity, people living in Iran and Iranians around the world have few trusted, centralized sources of information available.While some Iranians have developed ways to circumvent the government’s restrictions, millions are without day-to-day information about what is happening in the country. Media organizations operating in Iran, many of which have internet connectivity to broadcast internationally while millions of citizens are cut off from the world, are controlled by the state and push regime-backed narratives and propaganda. Meanwhile, mainstream mapping services like Google Maps aren’t available due to the internet shutdown—unless users have previously done big downloads of local data sets.Near-total control of Iran’s digital infrastructure has allowed the government to deploy vast surveillance infrastructure that permeates Iranians’ digital lives. And this panopticon extends into the physical world as well. Reports suggest people in Iran have been arrested for trying to share footage of the war outside of the country, as well as for general “online activity.”Ahmadian says that since the launch of Mahsa Alert, and particularly since the start of the war last month, the platform has faced regular distributed denial-of-service attacks attempting to take it offline. The group also recently published a security report on an alleged attempt to poison its domain name. Separately, online records show that multiple copycat domain names using the Mahsa Alert branding were all registered on the same day in February. The group behind the legitimate Mahsa Alert had nothing to do with these registrations, Ahmadian says.As the US and Israel’s war with Iran drags on, crowdsourced tools like Mahsa Alert become significant not only for providing information as fighting plays out, but as potential resources in larger efforts to document the conflict and create a record of known attacks. Volunteer projects have also been critical to recent documentation efforts in other conflicts, including the Syrian civil war and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.A volunteer project developed amid extreme conditions throughout years of unrest cannot replace an entire missing government service, though, and Mahsa Alert is limited by resource constraints. Crucially, since the platform relies on crowdsourced reports that must be vetted by volunteers, there is no path—at least in the short term—of bringing the information on the site anywhere close to real-time.“I wish we had more resources; we have a lot of ideas,” Ahmadian says. But he adds, “Hopefully Mahsa Alert will someday become unnecessary to have. Then it could be transformed for other coordination or emergency alerts for the future of Iran.”CommentsBack to topTriangleYou Might Also LikeIn your inbox: Upgrade your life with WIRED-tested gearNvidia plans to launch an open-source AI agent platformBig Story: He built the Epstein database—it consumed his lifeShould you leave your phone charging overnight?Watch: How right wing influencers infiltrated the governmentMatt Burgess is a senior writer at WIRED focused on information security, privacy, and data regulation in Europe. He graduated from the University of Sheffield with a degree in journalism and now lives in London. 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Mahmadian, utilizing the moniker Holistic Resilience, has spearheaded the creation of Mahsa Alert, a crowdsourced warning system for Iranian citizens, due to the absence of a government-provided missile alert system and the imposition of a prolonged internet blackout. The project emerged in response to escalating tensions between the United States, Israel, and Iran, marked by repeated military actions and a climate of heightened uncertainty. Without official guidance, Iranian citizens, particularly those in Tehran and surrounding areas, faced a significant information vacuum. Ahmadian recognized this critical need and, alongside a team of volunteer digital rights activists and open-source intelligence experts, initiated the development of Mahsa Alert as a dynamic and regularly updated mapping platform.

The design of Mahsa Alert prioritized functionality and accessibility, acknowledging the restrictions placed on internet access within Iran. The platform features lightweight websites and Android/iOS applications engineered for offline operation, enabling users to download updates via APK files when connectivity is briefly available. The system diligently monitors and translates incoming alerts from Israeli forces, detailing confirmed strike locations and offering crucial evacuation warnings. A core component involves the submission of reports from citizens on ground conditions, facilitating a crowdsourced network of real-time information.

The map itself displays "confirmed attacks" verified through submitted video footage and images, processed and tagged by the team utilizing Telegram bots. Beyond pinpointing attack sites, the system also identifies “danger zones”—such as sites associated with Iran’s nuclear program or military installations—allowing citizens to proactively avoid areas of potential risk. Ahmadian’s team rigorously vets user-submitted reports, employing a due diligence process to ensure accuracy, though a backlog of over 3,000 reports demonstrates the scale of the information gathering effort.

Furthermore, Mahsa Alert extends beyond simply mapping attacks; it incorporates detailed data about CCTV cameras, suspected government checkpoints, and key infrastructure. Medical facilities, religious sites, and past protest locations are also documented, providing a comprehensive overview of the environment for users. The app has rapidly gained traction, transitioning from near-zero daily active users to over 100,000 within days, propelled largely through global social media sharing and encouragement to spread the word to family and friends. Ahmadian reports that approximately 28 percent of users accessing the platform originate from within Iran, highlighting the critical demand for this type of localized information.

The genesis of Mahsa Alert was intertwined with the ongoing unrest and repressive measures employed by the Iranian regime following the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022. The prolonged internet shutdown and governmental control over digital connectivity have left millions of Iranians without reliable sources of information, creating a significant need for independent verification. The existing media landscape, dominated by state-controlled outlets disseminating regime-backed narratives and propaganda, further underscores the demand for alternative sources.

The development of Mahsa Alert has not been without challenges. The platform has been repeatedly targeted by distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, attempts to disrupt its functionality. Moreover, the team has reported sophisticated measures taken to obfuscate the platform’s domain name and warns of copycat domain registrations posing a potential threat. Despite these obstacles, the project’s continued operation and resilience are testaments to the dedication of the volunteers involved.

The significance of Mahsa Alert extends beyond its immediate utility in providing real-time information during the ongoing conflict. It serves as a valuable resource for documenting attacks and creating a record of events, mirroring the role of volunteer-driven documentation efforts in other conflicts, such as the Syrian civil war and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ahmadian acknowledges resource constraints and the limitations inherent in relying on crowdsourced information, which cannot achieve the same level of real-time accuracy as a centralized government system. He expresses hope that Mahsa Alert will eventually become obsolete, transforming into a future coordination or emergency alert system for Iran.