Man credits Apple Watch Fall Detection for saving his life

A North Carolina man's life was saved when, unknown to him, his Apple Watch detected him falling, and called emergency services automatically.

Apple Watch has saved lives before, and sometimes surprises its wearers by detecting problems they are unaware of. Now, however, a man has been rescued by the Summerfield Fire Department before he even knew his Watch could send an emergency message.

"The first thing I asked [the officer] was, 'How did you guys know to get here?' and he said, 'Your watch sent us a message,'" 78-year-old Mike Yager told Fox News. "And I said 'What?'"

Yager had reportedly fallen hard in his driveway, breaking his nose, and passing out. When he didn't respond to his Apple Watch, it automatically called 911.

"[Apple Watch is] kind of expensive," continued Yager, "but I think it's well worth it if you are over 65... you definitely need to do something like [get a Watch]."

The man's wife, Lori Yager, told Fox News that the Summerfield Fire Department officer showed her his log saying the alert had come from her husband's Apple Watch.

"I was speechless, I didn't know what to say," she said. "I wasn't due to come home for another couple hours and who knows what would have happened when I got home."

The ability to detect a fall is automatically enabled in the Apple Watch Series 4, or later, if the owner is over 65.

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16 Comments

KTR 280 comments · 4 Years

About 3 years ago

I’m waiting for carbon monoxide detector

fred1 1133 comments · 11 Years

Maybe you’re not impressed, but I am, just as I was when a branch I was standing on broke and I fell to the next one. I was fortunate enough to be able to turn off the warning on my watch, but I was grateful to have it.

amar99 180 comments · 14 Years

Always good to hear stories like this.

iOS_Guy80 899 comments · 5 Years

KTR said:

I’m waiting for carbon monoxide detector

That would definitely be cool, what about a smoke detector?

GeorgeBMac 11421 comments · 8 Years

Did it actually save his life? Does it matter? As a nurse I saw people who had fallen and ended up laying there for a couple days. It was ugly. And, their lives were changed for the worse. Much worse. But, being in the hospital, I never got to see how they did after discharge -- but the prospect were not good. And that is typical of older, debilitated people: Their lives don't take a long slow slide downhill but it's usually a set of steps where things are stable for a while, then something happens and they take a step down. Then they subsist at that lower level of functioning until they take the next step down.

But, I absolutely agree with this gentleman that everybody over 65 should not only have an Apple Watch with fall detection but, I would add, one with LTE so it can call for help whether you have your phone with you or not.

That ability to detect falls and call for help is the main reason why I wear mine at night: the sleep tracking is nice but mostly its a safety device if I have to get up at night and maneuver to the bathroom through a dark house while half asleep. I even wear it in the shower -- which is known as a huge fall risk itself.

As a home health nurse I saw those people who had the "I've fallen and can't get up" devices. They were good. But the people tended to remove them when they were most needed -- like at night and in the shower -- or out doing yard work. The Apple Watch solves those problems.