In 2024, Emergency Management Victoria released a complete redesign of the VicEmergency app, the official government platform for delivering real-time warnings about bushfires, floods, storms, and other emergencies across the state. The app is relied upon by millions of Victorians, especially those in rural and high-risk regions where up-to-the-minute information can literally save lives.
The goal of the redesign was to “enhance usability, speed up notification delivery, and simplify navigation.” Unfortunately, the outcome was a catastrophic misalignment between design intent and real-world usability—turning one of the most critical public safety tools into a frustrating, confusing, and in some cases, non-functional experience.
When the Map Becomes the Maze
One of the most significant changes was the decision to make the interactive map the default interface, eliminating the simple list view of warnings and incidents that users had come to trust.
Instead of being able to open the app and immediately see a list of nearby emergencies, users were now met with:
- A full-screen map showing small, unlabeled alert icons
- A messy cluster of overlapping symbols that were hard to distinguish
- No auto-zoom to the user’s location—forcing manual navigation
This might have looked sleek in a UI prototype, but in an actual emergency—like a fast-moving grass fire or flood warning—every second counts. For users on older phones, rural networks, or those under stress, this visual-first approach created unnecessary friction.
Confusing Colour Codes and Alert Levels
The new UI introduced a “streamlined” alert colour system, using subtle shades of red and orange to denote danger levels. However, users quickly pointed out that:
- The colour contrast was too weak to differentiate between “Advice” and “Watch and Act”
- Icons didn’t include textual labels until tapped
- No legend was available on the main screen
Even experienced users were left second-guessing what a dot or flame symbol actually meant. For newcomers, the map was visually ambiguous, unintuitive, and at times, dangerously misleading.
Push Notification Breakdown
VicEmergency is relied upon to deliver push notifications for nearby threats. But the 2024 update introduced a backend overhaul that caused widespread failures:
- Some users reported getting alerts 20–30 minutes late
- Others never received alerts despite being inside the emergency radius
- The app failed to re-send or escalate missed warnings
Making matters worse, the UI didn’t show a history of notifications, so users had no way to confirm what had been sent or whether they’d missed something. In forums and Facebook groups, people began posting screenshots and asking: “Did anyone else get the alert for XYZ?”—a chilling sign that trust in the system was breaking down.
Setup and Personalisation Gone Wrong
The redesign heavily pushed “personalised alerts,” asking users to set watch zones, link locations, and choose incident types. On paper, that makes sense. But the implementation was confusing:
- Users couldn’t add zones without GPS enabled
- Suburb searches failed if not spelled exactly right
- The difference between a “watch zone” and a “saved location” was never explained
This meant that many users believed they were subscribed to local alerts—but were not. In several instances during the Gippsland storm season, people only found out they weren’t receiving alerts after being caught off-guard.
Performance Issues in Critical Moments
The map interface was slow to load during peak usage times, such as during the January bushfire outbreaks. During an emergency, users would open the app only to be greeted by:
- Blank tiles
- Frozen screens
- “Loading data” messages that never resolved
Reports surfaced of the app being unusable during active evacuations. For a state-run tool meant to coordinate response and safety, this was more than a glitch—it was a failure of digital emergency infrastructure.
Public and Professional Backlash
Volunteer firefighters, CFA members, and local emergency response groups openly criticised the app. Several regional mayors posted on social media asking residents to rely on ABC Radio and local Facebook alerts instead.
An independent review conducted by an emergency technology consultant found that:
- Alert comprehension dropped by 35% post-redesign
- Average time to access incident detail increased by 40%
- Complaints to Emergency Victoria tripled within 6 weeks
What Went Wrong?
- Map-first design ignored rural and low-data realities
- Essential information was buried behind icons and gestures
- Notifications failed when they mattered most
- No fallback to a list or text-only mode
- Users weren’t properly onboarded into the new structure
This wasn’t just a UI mistake—it was a threat to public safety. The app’s poor redesign directly impacted people’s ability to make informed, timely decisions in dangerous conditions.
Partial Fixes and Political Fallout
By late 2024, after sustained public pressure, Emergency Management Victoria announced:
- A reinstated list view option
- Increased font contrast and clearer legend overlays
- Manual syncing of alerts and a new “test notification” feature
However, confidence in the system remains shaken, especially in fire-prone areas. Many community groups are advocating for a return to simpler, text-first designs that prioritise clarity over style.
FAQs
1. What made the new VicEmergency UI hard to use?
It prioritized an unlabeled map interface over a simple, fast list of nearby warnings.
2. Did users receive critical emergency notifications?
Not reliably. Notifications were delayed, missed, or failed to deliver altogether.
3. Why was the alert system confusing?
Colour codes lacked clarity, icons weren’t labeled, and alert levels weren’t always visible without extra taps.
4. What was the impact?
Delayed evacuations, confusion during fires and floods, and growing distrust in the app’s reliability.
5. Has the issue been fixed?
Some updates have been released, but major problems remain and trust has not fully recovered.
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