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Apple's Elk Grove Repair Facility Makes ~20 Accidental 911 Calls a Day

s15119 said:
And millions of alarms at businesses go off accidently on the regular. How is this news. Just silly fodder for the apple haters.
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When an alarm is triggered at a business during business hours, it generally notifies a private monitoring company, who will try and reach the business to confirm the situation, it doesn't automatically dial 911. Also, a single business's alarm system doesn't accidentally go off 20 times each day.
 
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I think it is the button placement that is the issue. For me, ever since I "upgraded" from a 5S to an 8, I find the buttons trickier to use. I am constantly accidentally switching off the device just by holding it at the sides for example.

Having the two sets of buttons opposite each other (on each side) is a poor design decision in my view. Having the power button at the top (like the 4/5 series and SE) seems way more sensible - and avoids most accidental presses.

Trying to use the iPhone 8 as a camera in landscape (without accidentally pressing a button!) is an exercise in frustration for example!
 
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Spectrum said:
Having the two sets of buttons opposite each other (on each side) is a poor design decision in my view. Having the power button at the top (like the 4/5 series and SE) seems way more sensible - and avoids most accidental presses.
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That might stem from positioning the Board's ears opposite to the other's mouth, to hear themselves echoing how good they are.
 
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adamjackson said:
I can relate. Since this feature was introduced, I've called 911 three times and all 3 times I was unable to hang up due to a bug.

I was riding home on my motorcycle, received a call from a tele-marketer. My bluetooth headset in my helmet automatically picks up on the 2nd ring and I'm trying to hang up and I click the power button a few times and it calls 911...but I'm wearing gloves so I can't hang up. Here's a video:


The other 2 times were unique and a very specific bug. Raise to wake has been the bane of my existence. As I dock the phone in my car which has CarPlay, the screen wakes up and twice my thumb has swiped across the screen right to left activating the camera as I dock it which sends the phone into a complete locked screen...no response at all. On two occasions I tried to reboot the phone using the old method (side button + home) but on iPhone 8, you have to click power up, then down then hold those 2 buttons. well, 911 would be called doing this the old way so now I know it's calling 911 and my screen is still not responding so I have to talk to a person and beg them to hang up on me because my phone is locked up and not responding to taps.

One day, this feature will save my life but I've spoken to 911 3 times in the last 6 months.
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You're lucky you didn't come flying off your bike. This is a dangerous feature from Apple. More harm than good.
 
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s15119 said:
And millions of alarms at businesses go off accidently on the regular. How is this news. Just silly fodder for the apple haters.
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Well clearly you have never worked for emergency services. When a 911 call comes in and officer has to be sent to verify it clear. Many domestic disturbances come in as 911 hang ups or no it ok, don’t bother.
I spent a few years dispatching police.


I would hate to have a officer checking out a bs Apple issue and not be able respond immediately to a true emergency. So this is a pretty big deal.
 
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We had a similar issue at a place where I worked where you had to dial 9 for an outside line. The idea was you press 9, there would be a short delay, and then you could dial your number. Unfortunately, if your number was overseas (which it often was), it often began with 011. So if you didn't wait for the delay after dialing 9, the system would miss the '0' but pick up on the 11, register 911 and route you to emergency services. Most people would notice it immediately and just hang up in embarrassment, but the police still needed to show up (and did).

After months of hilarity, someone finally got the bright idea to switch the phone system to dial 7 for an outside line. Problem solved.

Most of these kinds of interface issues have a simple solution, but Apple needs to figure one out. Making that many false calls to 911 is no joke.
 
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Delgibbons said:
You're lucky you didn't come flying off your bike. This is a dangerous feature from Apple. More harm than good.
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In their defense, it's a feature that can be disabled. But one day I'm going to need it and wish it was there. Apple keeps removing buttons and it makes something like hard restarting your phone a game of dance dance revolution. and actually clicking the side button to cancel a call no longer works.
 
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CarlJ said:
DNR = "Do Not Resuscitate" order, as seen sometimes in living wills and such. NDA = "Non-Disclosure Agreement". Perhaps you meant the latter? They're not exactly interchangeable.
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I noticed that too. But I think if Apple catches you violating their NDA, you'll wish you had a DNR.
 
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HiRez said:
Is this a good thing? I can imagine a lot of emergencies where you would not want anyone to hear you making an emergency call, like if you're being kidnapped or robbed, or are just seeing some suspicious/illegal activity and are trying not to be noticed.
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Just say something like, "Sorry! Siri activated herself! Stupid iPhone..."
 
The solution is simple.
Faraday cage the repair building and install land lines for true emergency.

Cell phones don't work and a true emergency is dialed from a land line.
This does not jam the phones of people outside the facility.
If you need to make a personal call, step out the building.
 
Matter of time before this delays a legitimate emergency call and Apple is sued for negligence, honestly.
 
sdwaltz said:
Yeah, I've done this from my watch by accident like 5 times.

Apple needs to find a better way.
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If you've held the watch button to trigger emergency calling five times you should turn off Hold to Auto Call.

I did this right away, because I figured if I could take screenshots by accident I didn't want to call 911 by accident.
 
i've activated it a bunch of times when trying to silence my morning alarms, once i didnt hang up in time and the cops called me right back. i hate this feature and the way screenshots are made..... probaby 5 or 6 shots a day in my camera roll
 
Apple saying they are looking into the problem ... what crap.

Apple ties up precious 9-1-1 call center resources while real life emergencies wait ... pathetic.

Apple should be fined $1,000 for every fake 9-1-1 call, then you see how fast they will look into the problem.
 
TheTruth101 said:
Trust me... Apple is possessed by negligence. What a huge pile of garbage that company is. One of my best friends works there as a manager of whatever. He is actually the one who oversees the entire OS and iOS interfaces. When I talk to him, he keeps his mouth shut because he knows what I am saying is true. He is there because of the money and the reputation of the company but he knows the guts of Apple is pure garbage today.
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Never trust anyone who starts a rant with "Trust me".
 
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Easily fixed by having the techs work in a Faraday cage.
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Sorinut said:
Never trust anyone who starts a rant with "Trust me".
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I want to know how to get a job as manager of whatever, just for the business card.
 
mabhatter said:
Because they’re testing all the buttons when people complain things don’t work, or maybe water damage shorts out some buttons?
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Once upon a time holding those two buttons down simultaneously performed a hard reset. Probability has something to do with it.
 
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