PSA: Apple Watch Series 4's fall detection is off by default for most people

If you're a new Series 4 owner and you've been trying without luck to test its fall detection feature, there may be a good reason — it's probably turned off.

Apple doesn't go out of its way to highlight this, but unless your age is 65 or older when you set up your Watch and/or the iOS Health app, the feature is off by default. This is presumably because Apple's fall detection algorithms aren't infallible — on a support page, the company

">warns

that physically active people are more likely to trigger false alarms. Those three sets of burpees could wreak havoc.

If you do want fall detection on, there is a way of manually enabling it. Launch the Watch app on your iPhone, select the My Watch tab, then tap Emergency SOS. You'll see a toggle for the feature with a description.

Aside from the annoyance of false positives, there's an important reason you might want to leave fall detection off. If it senses a fall and you don't respond within "about a minute," a 15-second countdown will start, after which your Watch will sound an alarm, message your emergency contacts, and call emergency services. Even if you don't get into trouble with the authorities, your friends and family are bound to panic if they think your life is in danger.

18 Comments

eriamjh 1760 comments · 17 Years

About 6 years ago

I would HOPE that most people under the age of 65 (and especially much younger) are active enough that fall detection HAS to be disabled to prevent false positives.

If you are not, then god help you. Get moving.

Soli 9981 comments · 9 Years

eriamjh said:

I would HOPE that most people under the age of 65 (and especially much younger) are active enough that fall detection HAS to be disabled to prevent false positives.

If you are not, then god help you. Get moving.

I'm very curious to see what the limitations of this feature is. I hope AI (or someone else) does an in-depth series of tests to see exactly how it works. Regardless of your age, falling from a ladder when cleaning your gutters is still a potential problem.

nht 4491 comments · 14 Years

I'd like crash detection...between bluetooth and my phone the watch should be able to know I'm in my car...

hentaiboy 1252 comments · 14 Years

eriamjh said:

I would HOPE that most people under the age of 65 (and especially much younger) are active enough that fall detection HAS to be disabled to prevent false positives.

If you are not, then god help you. Get moving.

What about younger physically handicapped people?

ivanh 596 comments · 12 Years

I believe fall detection algorithms is a firmware feature of watchOS 5. Apple should not restrict it from Apple Watch Series 3, since watchOS 5 is free.