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Don't AirBags deserves more attention than Apple Watches?!
Or Defibrillators!
Airbags are mandatory, so no need to spread the word, if you're driving a car built after 1999, then your car has an AirBag. And it's not practical for everyone to carry a Defib with everywhere, but they are mandatory in all Government building and training required by all Government employees that work near them. So the attention to let people know that lives can be saved with this non-mandatory thing you can put on your wrist.
 
Unfortunately, I took up boxing and had to turn this feature off.

Edit: I guess it wasn't clear, but when you punch stuff, it will set off this detection and start to call 911, which can be bad when you have your hands and wrist wrapped with gloves on.
I’m glad I have this lifesaving feature on my Apple Watch. Granted I once set off the countdown chopping ice in my driveway. I also managed to set it off when I tripped down some ancient stone stairs at Sterling Castle in Scotland. the watch tried to call 911 in the UK. I understand that is not the number to call there. But I did have international service on my iPhone. I killed the call before it reached any emergency center. ☺️
 
Unfortunately, I took up boxing and had to turn this feature off.

Edit: I guess it wasn't clear, but when you punch stuff, it will set off this detection and start to call 911, which can be bad when you have your hands and wrist wrapped with gloves on.

You might need it more than anyone. Consider it a ten count.
 
This is great, unfortunately it does not perform as well as showcased - false negatives or just plain misses are far too common for this to be optimal.
I’m sure it will get better with time. But I’m perfectly happy with false positives knowing that it’s actually saving people’s lives … even if it isn’t saving my own. The technology has to start somewhere.
 
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If only there was Apple health insurance. I disabled the fall detection feature because I'd rather die than get hit with a $100,000 hospital bill.
 
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I’m sure it will get better with time. But I’m perfectly happy with false positives knowing that it’s actually saving people’s lives … even if it isn’t saving my own. The technology has to start somewhere.
Tell that to overstretched emergency services and first responders.
 
I passed out in the bathroom, fell and due to my glass back, broke a vertebrea. If not for my wife hearing me hit the floor, who knows now long I would‘vem been laying there. My Apple watch didn‘t do a thing.
 
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Would it still be able to call for help if it’s a Wi-Fi only watch and you left your phone at home?
 
I have vertigo, and took a bad and painful fall 1.5 weeks during an episode. It would’ve been nice to have detection kick in when I fell. 7 hours in urgent care and I had bruising and swelling bigger than my hand.
 
The fall detection worked for me as well. I was running back to my car, tripped, smacked my head against a metal post, my Apple Watch detected my fall and was ready to call the emergency services but luckily I didn’t need them and some folk passing by came to my aid.
 
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I’m quite happy to have this feature set available… however, got a false alert last week while on a lengthy sportbike ride in some very technical canyon roads- the watch (Ultra) was under my leathers, beneath my gauntlet glove and apparently the side button was depressed by the edge of my cuff while I was leaning off the bike in a long high speed sweeper.

Got a few phone calls a few minutes later in my helmet comm from people on my emergency contacts list and one sheriff’s office.

Between the noise and vibrations I never noticed the thing going off, but figured it out. So, I flipped the watch orientation with the crown running inboard… and it happened again. As a result, while I still have fall detection enabled, I have had to disable the ‘push and hold for help‘ feature while riding.
 
This is a good feature, with a price for society. It is of course very good to save people's lives, but we should check the numbers .
* How many Apple Watches are worn, how many lives are saved ?
* How many false alarms, what is the cost of these false alarms, for how many lives saved ?

(I don't have the numbers, just saying that we should check that this is a good investment. Maybe with the same amount of money we could save more lives by doing other, less technological things)
 
It's a great feature but I've always been curious about what happens during the emergency call. Does the call handler listen to a Siri voice? Or do they just get a text description of what happened?
 
Was there really a life death situation averted by the Apple Watch? In the second case it’s just that potentially help came a bit quicker. The title seems quite inflated.
 
It detected when I fell once. I managed to cancel it because I thought I was OK.

I wasn't OK, I was absolutely knackered. I couldn't get up. I'd smashed my shoulder and ended up laying at the side of the road waiting for someone to stop and help.

If you don't have fall detection enabled, please do so. It's really important.

This is how my shoulder is now (x-ray in spoiler tags).

XtHoiGG.jpeg
 
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I actually fell down the stairs some weeks ago and  Watch asked me if I’m ok. It took me a while until the pain lessened after I pressed "fell but ok". I wonder if calling for help would have worked with an Austrian iPhone in India.
 
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