2 reasons Apple watched returned

[Iowa50125]

In reference to fall detection, there are two conditions that are supposed to be met. One) a sharp fall Two) no movement post the sharp fall for 1 minute. THEN the call sequence should start. Armchair diagnosis is the accelerometer is bad. I have a 4 with detection enabled and not had it start up in a week. Thankfully I am not on crutches.

Thanks for your reply. They're actually are 3 separate conditions that are to be met before the call for help goes out. The first is your arms both going forward as to cushion your fall, or if you were falling backwards both of your arms going over your head. That triggers the first part. The 2nd condition that has to be met is the accelerometer detecting a hard landing. Then the alert goes off. And if no movement is detected within 60 seconds, then the 3rd criteria is met and the call for help goes out. I can see where the crutch movement could trigger the first condition, although the movement of my arms is only 9 inches per step but they are in unison. But there is definitely no hard landing. After a hip replacement, trust me, you don't want hard landings!
The one time where the watch actually called for help is when Siri heard me telling a friend about my new Apple watch. I caught that one with 3 seconds to go before the call was set to go. I was explaining to him how the Fall Detection works and Siri interpreted that I was asking for help to be called. I solved that one my turning off the auto listening function of Siri. Such are the dangers of auto listening taking actions on your behalf.

In the end it was the calls not successfully being answered and going into call failure mode that was the deal killer. Apple Engineers detected something in the diagnostics that would take a bug fix to cure.

Thanks for your input...I think you are on the right track.

 

[Phogro]

Was it really just these two issues? Or were you not really all that sold on the watch's use and this just put it over the edge?

The reason I ask is that the failed calls issue seems to be something that isn't very widespread... if it were I'd expect we'd have seen more reports about it (news sites love to report about apple's problems).

The fall detection thing is interesting, but I'd also be interested to see if this was a fluke with your watch. Seems weird that it'd detect a fall when you're just moving on crutches, but maybe apple didn't really test this use case out? I'd be curious if other MacRumors users have experienced the issue with crutches or not.

Anyway... the point I'm trying to make is that you gave up on the watch because of two issues that appear to be very rare issues among apple watch users. To me this means that you're basing your decision to return the watch on issues that could be solved easily with a different watch. Now, if you didn't really like the rest of the watch experience then I'd understand the return, otherwise I'd say give it another shot - a new watch could fix both problems!

 

[tromboneaholic]

Was it really just these two issues? Or were you not really all that sold on the watch's use and this just put it over the edge?

The reason I ask is that the failed calls issue seems to be something that isn't very widespread... if it were I'd expect we'd have seen more reports about it (news sites love to report about apple's problems).

The fall detection thing is interesting, but I'd also be interested to see if this was a fluke with your watch. Seems weird that it'd detect a fall when you're just moving on crutches, but maybe apple didn't really test this use case out? I'd be curious if other MacRumors users have experienced the issue with crutches or not.

Anyway... the point I'm trying to make is that you gave up on the watch because of two issues that appear to be very rare issues among apple watch users. To me this means that you're basing your decision to return the watch on issues that could be solved easily with a different watch. Now, if you didn't really like the rest of the watch experience then I'd understand the return, otherwise I'd say give it another shot - a new watch could fix both problems!

I may be wrong, but reading between the lines, it seems the failed call issue may be related to WiFi at one particular location.

 

[Iowa50125]

Was it really just these two issues? Or were you not really all that sold on the watch's use and this just put it over the edge?

The reason I ask is that the failed calls issue seems to be something that isn't very widespread... if it were I'd expect we'd have seen more reports about it (news sites love to report about apple's problems).

The fall detection thing is interesting, but I'd also be interested to see if this was a fluke with your watch. Seems weird that it'd detect a fall when you're just moving on crutches, but maybe apple didn't really test this use case out? I'd be curious if other MacRumors users have experienced the issue with crutches or not.

Anyway... the point I'm trying to make is that you gave up on the watch because of two issues that appear to be very rare issues among apple watch users. To me this means that you're basing your decision to return the watch on issues that could be solved easily with a different watch. Now, if you didn't really like the rest of the watch experience then I'd understand the return, otherwise I'd say give it another shot - a new watch could fix both problems!

[doublepost=1539378108][/doublepost]I am certain that I will try another AW4 in the next couple of months. I agree the call failed issue is not widespread. But I also have to believe Apple Senior Engineering that reviewed the diagnostics and said that I was part of a small group that was being affected and the only solution was a software update. Now why is that? Perhaps a combination of Verzion, and or Apple Timecapsule? I do not know. I have to think that if the problem was simply in the watch, they would have sent me a new one or sent me back to the store to exchange it. It almost has to be something in my environment. I do know the issue is not related to signal strength of my wi-fi, as I was generally in the room where the TimeCapsule is and I have no problem with any of a dozen other devices on the wi-fi network, no matter where they are n the house.

I am going to look into borrowing someones AW for a couple of days and set it up as new and see if the problem persists. The Apple store is 25 miles away and until I get off the crutches in another 3 weeks, just don't want to hassle with the mall again. If you want to send me your Apple watch I would be more than happy to experiment!

 

[Phogro]

[doublepost=1539378108][/doublepost]I am certain that I will try another AW4 in the next couple of months. I agree the call failed issue is not widespread. But I also have to believe Apple Senior Engineering that reviewed the diagnostics and said that I was part of a small group that was being affected and the only solution was a software update. Now why is that? Perhaps a combination of Verzion, and or Apple Timecapsule? I do not know. I have to think that if the problem was simply in the watch, they would have sent me a new one or sent me back to the store to exchange it. It almost has to be something in my environment. I do know the issue is not related to signal strength of my wi-fi, as I was generally in the room where the TimeCapsule is and I have no problem with any of a dozen other devices on the wi-fi network, no matter where they are n the house.

I am going to look into borrowing someones AW for a couple of days and set it up as new and see if the problem persists. The Apple store is 25 miles away and until I get off the crutches in another 3 weeks, just don't want to hassle with the mall again. If you want to send me your Apple watch I would be more than happy to experiment!

So the short answer to my question is that it is just this issue and otherwise you like the watch? Fair enough.

One other way to confirm the watch vs your environment is to take the watch to a new location and test it there. If it still fails, it's probably the watch, if it's fine it's probably your location. Just a future test for the next time you try a watch.

 

[tromboneaholic]

[doublepost=1539378108][/doublepost]
I do know the issue is not related to signal strength of my wi-fi, as I was generally in the room where the TimeCapsule is and I have no problem with any of a dozen other devices on the wi-fi network, no matter where they are n the house.

If your Time Capsule looks like a "tower", then it is the 802.11ac model. Apple Watch cannot connect to 802.11ac. However, Time Capsule will have a dual band 802.11ac (5 GHz) and 802.11n (2.4 GHz) network.

If the dual networks are named differently, the iPhone may be connecting to the 5 GHz network but might not know the name and password for the 802.11ac network, so the Watch wouldn't connect to it using Keychain.

The solution would be to connect the iPhone to the 2.4 GHz network, so the Watch could pickup the network password through iCloud keychain. You can connect the Watch manually, but I haven't found scribble to be the best tool for entering a password.

There's no way for me to know if this was the issue in your case, but I could see this as an instance where Apple might issue a software update to force the Wacth to connect to the 2.4 GHz network if the phone was connected to the 5 Ghz network, or another workaround.

 

[staggerlee41]

Interesting discussion going on here. My first thought after reading through it is thank you for getting Apple Support involved as reports of issues are only going to help improve the experience for everyone long term.

So with the first issue, the deal breaker, is that something that you look to use long term or primarily now since you are not quite as mobile given your recent surgery and need for crutches? I ask because you mentioned you were within 25 feet from your phone and in that case I likely would just answer the call from my phone. I'm not dismissive of the fact that in your situation it did not work and that you may want to use that feature, more curious about your intended usage.

As for the Fall Detection, your experience is a good reminder to turn that off when my S4 arrives--until it has been improved upon. There are other threads mentioning erroneous fall detections, such as while cheering on a sports team and one even while a passenger in a moving vehicle. I like the premise of it and would activate it provided it works as designed. While I don't anticipate falling, one never knows when that could make a difference.

We all use our products differently and some features are more important than others to us. The benefits of the watch to me are not negated by either of these but clearly they are to you and that's fair enough. I understand and respect your perspective on it but also encourage you to give it another shot once you're back on your feet again. Here's hoping for a good recovery and an improved experience if/when you try the AW again!