Malcolm Owen
The fall detection feature of the Apple Watch has been credited with helping emergency services get to an unconscious driver following a collision — here's how to set it up.
A tweet from the Surrey Police in the United Kingdom advises there was an incident on local roads one week prior, where a driver had been "involved in a collision" and "had been knocked unconscious." In the tweet, the police reveal there was a response to an alert generated by the Apple Watch's fall detection feature, which sent GPS data to emergency responders guiding them to the injured party.
Surrey Police advised to AppleInsider the man "remains in hospital in a serious, but stable condition." An appeal for witnesses further describes him as aged in his "early 30s," with the incident occurring at just after 2am GMT on November 2 at Gatton Park Road, Redhill.
Last week we responded to an automated Apple Watch fall detection alert after a driver that was involved in a collision had been knocked unconscious.
— RPU - Surrey Police (@SurreyRoadCops) November 4, 2019
The alarm provided emergency responders with GPS data to quickly locate the scene.
> @Apple @tim_cook pic.twitter.com/cmTW6K2na0
In a follow-up tweet, the Surrey Police advise Apple Watch owners to consider setting up fall detection on their devices, as well as how to set up their medical ID, which can help emergency services identify the individual and to warn of existing medical conditions.
This is not the first time the Apple Watch's fall detection has been praised for saving a life. In April, an 80-year-old Munich woman was given assistance after the Apple Watch detected her fall in her apartment, while an 87-year-old woman in Maine was rescued by emergency services following a car accident in June.
Fall detection is available for anyone to set up on the Apple Watch Series 4 and Series 5, but it is disabled by default for users under the age of 65. For people aged 65 or over, fall detection is automatically offered to be enabled as part of the setup process.
How to set up fall detection on your Apple Watch
- Open the Watch app on the iPhone linked to the Apple Watch in question
- Select the My Watch tab
- Tap Emergency SOS
- Tap the toggle next to "Fall Detection"
Once enabled, the Apple Watch will attempt to alert users to a detected fall, and ask if they are fine. If there is no response, it will attempt to further alert the user with a tap of the wrist and an alarm sound, before it calls the emergency services.
Apple does warn of the presence of false positives, where an action by the user could be misinterpreted as a fall. The more physically active the wearer, the more likely the feature will be triggered, especially for high-impact activities.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
26 Comments
True story: I suffered a brain injury in January that has left me with severe balance issues. I took a few hard spills, so I set up the fall detection. However, when I fell, I landed right on my watch, destroying it. The unit likely saved my wrist from being broken, so that’s something.
Last May 27th I walked out the door for my usual daily 4 or 5 mile walk. 2/10 of a mile from home I tripped and fell due to uneven sidewalk. I fell and broke my left elbow, dislocated and broke my left hip and plenty of lacerations on my face. As I laid on the sidewalk gathering my wits and determining if I could move, my Series 4 called 911. I cancelled the call as I wanted to see if I could get up on my own. ( I didn't know the severity of my situation ) A few minutes later I did use it to call 911 on my own. Good to know had I been knocked unconscious the watch would have done its job as advertised. A potential lifesaver for many people.
Fall detection is the only feature I don’t trust. I was at a convention, sitting in a comfortable armchair, turned my wrist over, and the detection went on and I quickly had to tell it not to dial. I immediately turned it off.
i don’t know if this was a one off error or not, as reviewers tried to set it off with fake falls, and they couldn’t. But I don’t want to take the chance it will fall off a bedside end table, end up under the bad, and before I get to it, call emergency services.