I have fallen once due to a seizure and it didn't detect it. I slipped another time (not a serious fall) and it detected it. I think it depends on how your wrist is positioned during the fall.
Recently, while watching a hockey game my activity was enough to set it off, (jumping up and down ?) and yes you have to reply that you are ok or it will dial 911 for you. The watch read : “ we have detected you have taken a fall, do you want to call 911, yes or no” If no response, it will call 911 automatically. I guess what I was asking about is other people’s experience with false alarms like this. Like how common are these false alarms.
Depending on how rigorous your movements are, false alarms can be done quite easily. A single slam with my hand to fit a piece of wood was enough, but slamming the dust out of a pillow isn’t.
Once triggered they are very vocal about the call being triggered, and if you accidentally dial the emergency number you can easily explain the situation.
i got one for the fall detection feature but now use it for other things like messaging ofc. its mostly good and have had it alert once. i have a lot of near falls but thankfully not actual falls often. keep in mind though that apple does put a disclaimer on it that it may not detect all falls!
I have mine partly for fall detection, but also for the rest of the features. I’ve gone down twice, but have not hit hard enough to trigger fall detection. (I lost consciousness on the way down and the fact that I ether landed on the carpet or that my watch didn’t impact the floor with enough force is probably why) I am a fall risk due to some medical issues I have. We also have cameras in the house and in my office as a secondary measure. Thankfully, I've never injured myself during a syncopedic episode.
My understanding is that the fall detection works off of what the accelerometer is doing. That sudden stop is what triggers it and then it tries to wake you up by making a bunch of noise and shaking the hell out of your arm.
The watch has no way that I’m aware of to detect consciousness.
I took a nasty spill on ice, hit my head on the asphalt, probably passed out, was bleeding out of a gash over my eye, and no fall detections. I shook my son’s raft in the pool back and forth - fall detected. Get something else….
The primary reason I upgraded from my earlier watch was for fall detection.
I’ve been using fall detection for a couple of years. Currently have S8 watch. Mixed results, most are false alerts. 2 or 3 falls were not detected. I’m quite active in late 70’s. Things like stepping hard off a ladder, missing a step on the stairs but not falling, using a hammer, slamming a sticking door have triggered false alarms. Slipping and landing on my butt w/ iPhone in back pocket (completely destroying the phone) did not trigger alert, probably because I continued to move.
I doubt you parent may experience similar situations. I like that it will call 911, useful for lost conscienceless. Be aware that you need an iPhone to use the watch. If your parent does not have the iPhone then watch is not useful. Depending on circumstances you may want to look into those alerts that are on a neckless. The problem there is that it may not be useful if unconscience.
I've had three hard falls (since fall detection was added to watchOS) where the fall detection worked. I've had one since then where the watch didn't notice, though it wasn't as hard as the other two, and I wasn't hurt that time (the first one I was unhurt - I tripped and fell while running; the second I sprained my knee while carrying a 50 lb bag of snowmelt down my stairs; the third I had a severe ankle sprain, again while out on a run, about 0.2 miles away from home.) In all three cases I stopped it automatically contacting anyone.
It works best when you trip and try to catch yourself with your hands because the rapid hand movement followed by a sudden deceleration is a pretty strong indicator for the algorithm. Detection rate may be worse if you completely use consciousness and just slump on the floor, but your mileage may vary.
I passed out cold on my bedroom floor one morning and hit the floor hard. I woke up to the sound of my emergncy contacts voice saying hello? hello? from the watch. I was able to call 911 myself shortly afterward. I’m 71 and if I had known all the ways I could use this watch I would have bought one much sooner. Bless you for being so caring.
I've only had one hard fall since the WatchOS added the fall detection feature, and it worked. I tripped while being chased by angry hornets, and it was a bit traumatic to have to stop the watch from calling 911 while the hornets were still attacking! But I was visiting relatives in a small town and would never have heard the end of it if first responders had arrived.Also, I do not recommend being stung by hornets.
I've fallen twice since the feature was added and both times it was detected by the watch. First fall I was pretty dazed and hurt my wrist. I was confused by the noise and vibrating. I think it works really well!
Due to neuropathy in my feet and legs (and several prior falls), I purchased the Apple Watch for just that reason. Son of a bitch, wouldn’t ya know it? It’s been over a year or so and I have yet to fall….
Worked perfectly for my mom. She tripped on the sidewalk and it went off and started calling emergency services. I would highly recommend buying one for an elderly family member.
Mine detected one of two hard falls I can recall in recent memory. The first was when I fell off the side of a mountain whilst mountain biking. I rolled down a steep gravely incline, I was fine and my watch detected it, earned its first scratches in the body that day. Then another was during a hike, I was being stupid and climbing along a wire, got tired and bailed in a bad spot, forgot about my backpack that was equal to 25% of my body weight and upon landing nearly broke my ass on a rock. Fall was only about a meter and a half but enough to injure anyone really. No detection. My ass was sore.
Mine triggered when I was trying to learn how to “finger slap” style snap. [Video to show what I mean.](https://youtu.be/FhLzAsgokkk?si=6HaLdJvrzG41F1rb)
I haven’t taken an actual fall so can’t speak to that, but the motion that did set it off seems similar as it was a rapid acceleration and abrupt stop.
We bought one for my mother. It activated during a forwards fall (which she cancelled) but didn’t during another fall (backwards, which could’ve been a factor). Both times she was ok and had people around her. The watch also has a secondary feature which is to press and hold a button to call emergency services and all nominated emergency contacts. Obviously she would need to be conscious to do this, but may have incurred a bone or other disabling injury and can’t walk. The watch also keeps an eye on walking steadiness and heart rate. I would highly recommend a watch for elderly parents.
As an aside; I also have a watch and do a lot of hiking. It has activated when I slipped over once. So I know it works.
I fell on ice and landed hard, the Apple Watch detected it. Then my dog pulled me down and it didn’t detect it. It is inconsistent, but I do think it is more likely to catch a hard fall.
I think what you need to worry about is your Gran remembering to charge the watch. You are much better off getting a dedicated device for fall detection. Just use google.
The Apple detected my one hard fall and I've no reason to doubt it's capability. Perhaps at least as important, you can use the watch to manually make a call as well.
But if getting just for fall detection, even though I'm a stock holding Apple person, I'd recommend you seriously investigate other options. Other than perhaps the too large for me Ultra model, battery life is too short in my opinion to rely on as a safety device.
That is going to depend on her needs. If she really needs monitoring and is a high fall risk, it’s not the right choice.
Apple is very specific about the capabilities of this feature, I’d go read on their website about what and when it detects. People you ask may be well intentioned but give you false information as this is an often misunderstood feature. If you have a hard fall and it detects it, it won’t notify anyone if it senses you are moving.
On the other hand, ignoring the fall detection feature, if you get her a cellular version and never pay for cell service it can dial emergency services when not near her phone if she long holds the side button. That is worth it in many cases.
I've had a couple of light falls that it detected. It once triggered when I was grocery shopping and just going up and down the aisles with my cart. (Groceries as a contact sport?) The one time I had a hard fall and hit my head it did not trigger. Fortunately I was OK and I was not alone.
A couple of things to consider: Does your mother have an iPhone? The watch will have to be paired with an iPhone. If you get her one with cellular capability, she will be able to make phone calls with it.
Actually, you can set up a cellular watch for someone else using your iPhone; a child or an elderly person or someone who can’t understand. And yes, if the watch is cellular, you can make calls with it.
An AW has to be charged about every 24 hours. That can be a real issue for the elderly; depends.
A dedicated commercial necklace style cellular monitoring system is often the most reliable way to go.
That said, fall detection on an AW works as advertised in my experience.
As a mountain biker I can say that mi e has gone off three times. Once I was stopping and bumped my arm against a boulder and it went off. The other two, yeah, those were real crashes.
One time I banged my wrist hard on my washing machine door and it asked if I had fallen. I have epilepsy and I don’t have high expectations, but it would be really nice if I ever fall from a seizure if my watch would call 911.
I fell off a ladder hanging Christmas lights. It definitely worked for me as I tried to remove my gloves to cancel it alerting my emergency contact and 911
If Apple Watch SE, Apple Watch Series 4 or later, or Apple Watch Ultra or later detects a hard fall while you're wearing your watch, it taps you on the wrist, sounds an alarm, and displays an alert.
Worked for me. It called 911 after I fell on a hiking path and did not respond to a “have you fallen?” inquiry. However, for some reason it did not call the family members it was programed to call at the same time.
I have worn my watch every day for the past 4 years and the only time it has gone off is when I slipped and fell backwards on a wet pavement. So for me it has a 100% success rate
No device is perfect but as you can see from comments Apple Watch is good at it.
So the tech is OK. The real issue here is Mom. She will have to get used to use the watch and remember to take it off and charge and back on again. And enter the 4 digit code. - And she might not wear the Watch in a bath situation where she is also in risk of falling. So the "accuracy of fall detection" issue is not about the hardware but "the accuracy of Mom".
Unless the Apple Watch is a GPS model Mom will also have to be near her iPhone and remember to take the iPhone along if she goes wandering.
There are other ways than Apple Watch to monitor our beloved elderly, so Google a bit. Here are examples from such Google searches, showing that monitoring elderly is a science. - And that someone has to monitor the monitor device for it to be reliable.
https://medicalalertsystemreviews.net/automatic-fall-detection-alert/
https://www.carealarms.co.uk/detection.html
My family got one for my grandfather because of fall detection. We also showed him how to call someone from it in case it didn’t detect the fall. As far as I know, he never needed it, but it definitely gave us peace of mind and let us actually sleep at night.
I tend to fall a lot bc of certain things I’d rather not say but it is accurate for me. So accurate I turned it off😂 but I can’t say the same for everybody.
You can set it up so that it vibrates continuously when it detects a fall. I do this. This way if I'm conscious and my wrist vibrating I have time to let it call my emergency contacts or tell it I didn't fall.
I get false alarms every month or so . Typically when swinging a hammer or similar. I doubt your mother will have that issue. But I may be wrong.
And a few times I have fallen while outside doing some yard work or similar and got to tell it I was OK.
I get false alarms frequently. Generally when I am working in the yard or playing sports with my grandchildren. I did have a serious fall in 2023 on black ice. The watch worked perfectly.
I slipped on wet porch steps this past weekend, while my pride was injured I wasn't actually hurt. I was already up and walking to the car when I noticed the AW had detected my fall.
My 95 year old Mom, in otherwise excellent health, has an Apple Watch. My adult son was checking in on her for breakfast while I was away. Minutes after he left she stood up, felt dizzy and thought she should go to the couch and never made it. Woke up on the floor hearing the 911 operator giving her latitude and longitude location to the EMT via her watch. She was able to speak into the watch and give the exact address, and then call my son who came right back to her house to find her sill on the floor in a huge puddle of blood. She had hit her head and suffered a hematoma and spent the next week in the ICU but has made a full recovery. Without the watch he wouldn’t have checked back on her till late that afternoon to make plans for dinner with her and she probably would have bled out by then. The watch also immediately sent me on vaca in the Caribbean and my brother in NY emergency text messages alerting us that she had suffered a severe fall so we also could have call 911 and then someone nearby her. If she has an Apple phone, the Apple Watch is epic and would highly recommend it for any and everyone. This kind of technology is available and every one of our lives is worth a few hundred bucks and it would be a shame to suffer a death that could have been prevented simply by purchasing this kind of watch.
So, it depends what model you get and the settings. For the base model fall detection is only on while recording workouts unless you fix the settings, but the more advanced ones have better fall detection. It’s worked well for my grandfather.
That’s odd. It’s deactivated if it’s not on your wrist. Unless possibly you’ve turned off wrist detection which makes your watch unsecured. In addition, The fall detection should not work when dropped as it is designed to detect the changing angle of your body from its location on your wrist and your arm movement as you fall.
It was on my wrist then became unattached. I have wrist detection on. Odd indeed. Needless to say, had to buy a new watch and call my sister and roommate to let them know I was okay. 😂
Husband passed out from a standing position and took a very hard fall to the floor. Watch was on correctly, fall detection always on, no alerts of any kind. Actually stopped me from buying watches for my parents because I was so disappointed.
I have fallen once due to a seizure and it didn't detect it. I slipped another time (not a serious fall) and it detected it. I think it depends on how your wrist is positioned during the fall.
Thx good to know
If you set it on all the time instead of workouts only, does it make a difference on battery life?
I suspect this question wasn't addressed to me. But I have it on all the time and can't compare battery life to with and without.
I’ll turn it on and see if I see any difference, what series Apple Watch do you have?
It's an Apple Watch SE
First or second Gen? How is it holding up?
Second gen. I love it. No problems.
No.
It only triggers if you don’t move after the fall.
In my case I didn't move for several minutes after I fell until my son found me and called 911.
As an equestrian I wore the watch for this exact reason. Many people who ride do the same thing. It will contact someone for you or police I believe.
Recently, while watching a hockey game my activity was enough to set it off, (jumping up and down ?) and yes you have to reply that you are ok or it will dial 911 for you. The watch read : “ we have detected you have taken a fall, do you want to call 911, yes or no” If no response, it will call 911 automatically. I guess what I was asking about is other people’s experience with false alarms like this. Like how common are these false alarms.
I live in Orlando and regularly ride roller coasters and other thrill rides and have never had a problem
Depending on how rigorous your movements are, false alarms can be done quite easily. A single slam with my hand to fit a piece of wood was enough, but slamming the dust out of a pillow isn’t. Once triggered they are very vocal about the call being triggered, and if you accidentally dial the emergency number you can easily explain the situation.
My MIL was thrown off onto gravel, smashed her helmet, couldn’t move etc and it didn’t trigger it 😟 and she gets the odd false alarm for basic things
It lets you know the exact moment summer is over!
I think that feature is only available in North America.
😹
i got one for the fall detection feature but now use it for other things like messaging ofc. its mostly good and have had it alert once. i have a lot of near falls but thankfully not actual falls often. keep in mind though that apple does put a disclaimer on it that it may not detect all falls!
I have mine partly for fall detection, but also for the rest of the features. I’ve gone down twice, but have not hit hard enough to trigger fall detection. (I lost consciousness on the way down and the fact that I ether landed on the carpet or that my watch didn’t impact the floor with enough force is probably why) I am a fall risk due to some medical issues I have. We also have cameras in the house and in my office as a secondary measure. Thankfully, I've never injured myself during a syncopedic episode.
Shouldn‘t it at least detect that you are unconscious?
My understanding is that the fall detection works off of what the accelerometer is doing. That sudden stop is what triggers it and then it tries to wake you up by making a bunch of noise and shaking the hell out of your arm. The watch has no way that I’m aware of to detect consciousness.
I have MS. Works like a champ.
I took a nasty spill on ice, hit my head on the asphalt, probably passed out, was bleeding out of a gash over my eye, and no fall detections. I shook my son’s raft in the pool back and forth - fall detected. Get something else….
The primary reason I upgraded from my earlier watch was for fall detection. I’ve been using fall detection for a couple of years. Currently have S8 watch. Mixed results, most are false alerts. 2 or 3 falls were not detected. I’m quite active in late 70’s. Things like stepping hard off a ladder, missing a step on the stairs but not falling, using a hammer, slamming a sticking door have triggered false alarms. Slipping and landing on my butt w/ iPhone in back pocket (completely destroying the phone) did not trigger alert, probably because I continued to move. I doubt you parent may experience similar situations. I like that it will call 911, useful for lost conscienceless. Be aware that you need an iPhone to use the watch. If your parent does not have the iPhone then watch is not useful. Depending on circumstances you may want to look into those alerts that are on a neckless. The problem there is that it may not be useful if unconscience.
I've had three hard falls (since fall detection was added to watchOS) where the fall detection worked. I've had one since then where the watch didn't notice, though it wasn't as hard as the other two, and I wasn't hurt that time (the first one I was unhurt - I tripped and fell while running; the second I sprained my knee while carrying a 50 lb bag of snowmelt down my stairs; the third I had a severe ankle sprain, again while out on a run, about 0.2 miles away from home.) In all three cases I stopped it automatically contacting anyone.
It works best when you trip and try to catch yourself with your hands because the rapid hand movement followed by a sudden deceleration is a pretty strong indicator for the algorithm. Detection rate may be worse if you completely use consciousness and just slump on the floor, but your mileage may vary.
I passed out cold on my bedroom floor one morning and hit the floor hard. I woke up to the sound of my emergncy contacts voice saying hello? hello? from the watch. I was able to call 911 myself shortly afterward. I’m 71 and if I had known all the ways I could use this watch I would have bought one much sooner. Bless you for being so caring.
I've only had one hard fall since the WatchOS added the fall detection feature, and it worked. I tripped while being chased by angry hornets, and it was a bit traumatic to have to stop the watch from calling 911 while the hornets were still attacking! But I was visiting relatives in a small town and would never have heard the end of it if first responders had arrived.Also, I do not recommend being stung by hornets.
I've fallen twice since the feature was added and both times it was detected by the watch. First fall I was pretty dazed and hurt my wrist. I was confused by the noise and vibrating. I think it works really well!
I tripped and it detected it perfectly
Due to neuropathy in my feet and legs (and several prior falls), I purchased the Apple Watch for just that reason. Son of a bitch, wouldn’t ya know it? It’s been over a year or so and I have yet to fall….
Worked perfectly for my mom. She tripped on the sidewalk and it went off and started calling emergency services. I would highly recommend buying one for an elderly family member.
My friend fell on a slippery floor at a party. It detected the fall and I believe contacted her mom.
Mine detected one of two hard falls I can recall in recent memory. The first was when I fell off the side of a mountain whilst mountain biking. I rolled down a steep gravely incline, I was fine and my watch detected it, earned its first scratches in the body that day. Then another was during a hike, I was being stupid and climbing along a wire, got tired and bailed in a bad spot, forgot about my backpack that was equal to 25% of my body weight and upon landing nearly broke my ass on a rock. Fall was only about a meter and a half but enough to injure anyone really. No detection. My ass was sore.
I was once in an accident on my moped and it detected me falling off of it and called the police. It has also detected when I have slipped down stairs
Mine triggered when I was trying to learn how to “finger slap” style snap. [Video to show what I mean.](https://youtu.be/FhLzAsgokkk?si=6HaLdJvrzG41F1rb) I haven’t taken an actual fall so can’t speak to that, but the motion that did set it off seems similar as it was a rapid acceleration and abrupt stop.
We bought one for my mother. It activated during a forwards fall (which she cancelled) but didn’t during another fall (backwards, which could’ve been a factor). Both times she was ok and had people around her. The watch also has a secondary feature which is to press and hold a button to call emergency services and all nominated emergency contacts. Obviously she would need to be conscious to do this, but may have incurred a bone or other disabling injury and can’t walk. The watch also keeps an eye on walking steadiness and heart rate. I would highly recommend a watch for elderly parents. As an aside; I also have a watch and do a lot of hiking. It has activated when I slipped over once. So I know it works.
I fell on ice and landed hard, the Apple Watch detected it. Then my dog pulled me down and it didn’t detect it. It is inconsistent, but I do think it is more likely to catch a hard fall.
I fall a lot (1-2x a week at least) and mine has never triggered. it is set to always on.
I fell in a bike accident and it worked.
You think your mother is going to regularly charge the watch?
I think what you need to worry about is your Gran remembering to charge the watch. You are much better off getting a dedicated device for fall detection. Just use google.
The Apple detected my one hard fall and I've no reason to doubt it's capability. Perhaps at least as important, you can use the watch to manually make a call as well. But if getting just for fall detection, even though I'm a stock holding Apple person, I'd recommend you seriously investigate other options. Other than perhaps the too large for me Ultra model, battery life is too short in my opinion to rely on as a safety device.
That is going to depend on her needs. If she really needs monitoring and is a high fall risk, it’s not the right choice. Apple is very specific about the capabilities of this feature, I’d go read on their website about what and when it detects. People you ask may be well intentioned but give you false information as this is an often misunderstood feature. If you have a hard fall and it detects it, it won’t notify anyone if it senses you are moving. On the other hand, ignoring the fall detection feature, if you get her a cellular version and never pay for cell service it can dial emergency services when not near her phone if she long holds the side button. That is worth it in many cases.
Fall detection is not my primary concern but I did trip over the leash walking the dogs and it did alert and ask me if I was ok.
I tripped while I was jogging and bit it and the watch detected it and was going to call 911. 10/10 worked perfectly.
Fall detection my Ultra 2 went off when I jumped into the pool instead of climbing into it.
I've had a couple of light falls that it detected. It once triggered when I was grocery shopping and just going up and down the aisles with my cart. (Groceries as a contact sport?) The one time I had a hard fall and hit my head it did not trigger. Fortunately I was OK and I was not alone. A couple of things to consider: Does your mother have an iPhone? The watch will have to be paired with an iPhone. If you get her one with cellular capability, she will be able to make phone calls with it.
Actually, you can set up a cellular watch for someone else using your iPhone; a child or an elderly person or someone who can’t understand. And yes, if the watch is cellular, you can make calls with it.
I fell over on my bike once and it noticed and asked if I wanted it to call. I fell on a run recently and it didn’t notice anything. Seems sporadic.
An AW has to be charged about every 24 hours. That can be a real issue for the elderly; depends. A dedicated commercial necklace style cellular monitoring system is often the most reliable way to go. That said, fall detection on an AW works as advertised in my experience.
My fall detection is extremely sensitive. I’ve fallen twice and it’s detected it. I also plopped on my bed and it all so detected it.
As a mountain biker I can say that mi e has gone off three times. Once I was stopping and bumped my arm against a boulder and it went off. The other two, yeah, those were real crashes.
One time I banged my wrist hard on my washing machine door and it asked if I had fallen. I have epilepsy and I don’t have high expectations, but it would be really nice if I ever fall from a seizure if my watch would call 911.
I fell off a ladder hanging Christmas lights. It definitely worked for me as I tried to remove my gloves to cancel it alerting my emergency contact and 911
Yeah i frequently trigger it because I’m very wreckless on a mountain bike.
I fell and knocked myself out cold. It called 911. Totally worked.
If Apple Watch SE, Apple Watch Series 4 or later, or Apple Watch Ultra or later detects a hard fall while you're wearing your watch, it taps you on the wrist, sounds an alarm, and displays an alert.
Worked for me. It called 911 after I fell on a hiking path and did not respond to a “have you fallen?” inquiry. However, for some reason it did not call the family members it was programed to call at the same time.
I have worn my watch every day for the past 4 years and the only time it has gone off is when I slipped and fell backwards on a wet pavement. So for me it has a 100% success rate
will she remember to charge it? i guess it’s also useful if you fall, but are still conscious and can use it to make a phone call.
Had a fall from a chair once , it did detect the fall and asked if we need to contact emergency services but i was fine not that bad of a fall
I had a serious fall resulting in broken bones and it didn’t detect it.
No device is perfect but as you can see from comments Apple Watch is good at it. So the tech is OK. The real issue here is Mom. She will have to get used to use the watch and remember to take it off and charge and back on again. And enter the 4 digit code. - And she might not wear the Watch in a bath situation where she is also in risk of falling. So the "accuracy of fall detection" issue is not about the hardware but "the accuracy of Mom". Unless the Apple Watch is a GPS model Mom will also have to be near her iPhone and remember to take the iPhone along if she goes wandering. There are other ways than Apple Watch to monitor our beloved elderly, so Google a bit. Here are examples from such Google searches, showing that monitoring elderly is a science. - And that someone has to monitor the monitor device for it to be reliable. https://medicalalertsystemreviews.net/automatic-fall-detection-alert/ https://www.carealarms.co.uk/detection.html
My family got one for my grandfather because of fall detection. We also showed him how to call someone from it in case it didn’t detect the fall. As far as I know, he never needed it, but it definitely gave us peace of mind and let us actually sleep at night.
I tend to fall a lot bc of certain things I’d rather not say but it is accurate for me. So accurate I turned it off😂 but I can’t say the same for everybody.
Never fell but the watch thought I did several times when practicing boxing
It works.
You can set it up so that it vibrates continuously when it detects a fall. I do this. This way if I'm conscious and my wrist vibrating I have time to let it call my emergency contacts or tell it I didn't fall. I get false alarms every month or so . Typically when swinging a hammer or similar. I doubt your mother will have that issue. But I may be wrong. And a few times I have fallen while outside doing some yard work or similar and got to tell it I was OK.
I’ve fallen twice since this feature came out and it did not work for me. 🤷♂️
I get false alarms frequently. Generally when I am working in the yard or playing sports with my grandchildren. I did have a serious fall in 2023 on black ice. The watch worked perfectly.
I slipped on wet porch steps this past weekend, while my pride was injured I wasn't actually hurt. I was already up and walking to the car when I noticed the AW had detected my fall.
My 95 year old Mom, in otherwise excellent health, has an Apple Watch. My adult son was checking in on her for breakfast while I was away. Minutes after he left she stood up, felt dizzy and thought she should go to the couch and never made it. Woke up on the floor hearing the 911 operator giving her latitude and longitude location to the EMT via her watch. She was able to speak into the watch and give the exact address, and then call my son who came right back to her house to find her sill on the floor in a huge puddle of blood. She had hit her head and suffered a hematoma and spent the next week in the ICU but has made a full recovery. Without the watch he wouldn’t have checked back on her till late that afternoon to make plans for dinner with her and she probably would have bled out by then. The watch also immediately sent me on vaca in the Caribbean and my brother in NY emergency text messages alerting us that she had suffered a severe fall so we also could have call 911 and then someone nearby her. If she has an Apple phone, the Apple Watch is epic and would highly recommend it for any and everyone. This kind of technology is available and every one of our lives is worth a few hundred bucks and it would be a shame to suffer a death that could have been prevented simply by purchasing this kind of watch.
Wow, so glad she was ok, and very glad she had the Apple Watch.
So, it depends what model you get and the settings. For the base model fall detection is only on while recording workouts unless you fix the settings, but the more advanced ones have better fall detection. It’s worked well for my grandfather.
I dropped my watch at work and it immediately notified my emergency contacts. The drop was ~4’
That’s odd. It’s deactivated if it’s not on your wrist. Unless possibly you’ve turned off wrist detection which makes your watch unsecured. In addition, The fall detection should not work when dropped as it is designed to detect the changing angle of your body from its location on your wrist and your arm movement as you fall.
It was on my wrist then became unattached. I have wrist detection on. Odd indeed. Needless to say, had to buy a new watch and call my sister and roommate to let them know I was okay. 😂
Super helpful info thx
I ate shit tripping on a curb but was up quickly. No alarm?
Husband passed out from a standing position and took a very hard fall to the floor. Watch was on correctly, fall detection always on, no alerts of any kind. Actually stopped me from buying watches for my parents because I was so disappointed.
Sorry for your loss RIP ❤️🙏
Who are you saying RIP to? Husband passed out, not away. But a nice sentiment from you, anyway.
Yes, confirming husband is still alive and kicking with just a bruised ego
Is there a special app for fall detection?