Are you using fall detection?

[gymratjudy]

I have it on. Funny thing, I fell on pavement and broke my nose in two places while walking the dog and the fall detection did not go on. Maybe I got up quicker than I thought, although it felt like I was on the pavement face first for quite a bit. Yesterday, I bent down to toss my dog onto the yard to do her business, and the fall detection notification went on.

 

[George Dawes]

I fell down the stairs a week ago and my head is still sore . This would have been useful.I was a tad inebriated... oops

 

[ApfelKuchen]

No, thats not what I meant. What it seem to 'think' is movement is you are not staying stationary. What I meant is no movement at all ie you are not only stationary but completely still. What I think would be useful is to have 'Sport' mode like that so if say you take a regular spill your Watch arm is likely to be moving at least a bit like you might be winded or hurting otherwise and need a minute but you'd probably be moving your arms a bit while trying to recover.
No movement at all ie whole body being completely still means something real bad happened like head, neck or spinal injury or trauma meaning you are very unlikely in a state where you can call for help yourself so it should go ahead and trigger that emergency call countdown.

I think you're thinking too hypothetically. In my experience with seniors who fall (not professionally, but certainly frequent enough) is that they can certainly need medical attention and still be able to move in small ways. The only thing likely to render total immobility is unconsciousness, and that's not necessarily the only outcome of an injury-causing fall.

I trust Apple to do a better job of researching this feature than all the armchair generals around here. Apple is more likely to get useful feedback (such as complaints/reports from major emergency service organizations about things like false-positives).

 

[antbob]

I think you're thinking too hypothetically.

What I'm thinking is based on my personal experience. I snowboard and ride mountain bikes and I have witnessed a few spills up close over the years, both park and backcountry, including some real bad ones. Had a few spills myself too. The question of this thread is 'Are you using fall detection?' and I have tried to explain why I dont and what improvements/changes Apple would need to make so this feature can actually be useful to me.

I think addition of some 'Sport' mode like I have described could be useful to alot of people and actually save lives bc people like me who tried it and ended up switching it off due to false positives would actually end up switching it on knowing its will only go off in real emergency and that could mean life and death difference one day. In the end what good is this feature to me if its turned off?!

 

[Glene]

On fall detection I’m sure that they have legal parameters that they have to meet. So say you’re in “sport“ mode, and then you go back into the house and you fall and get into a problem where sport mode is not what you want to be in but you forgot to switch it back, before you know what there’s a lawsuit.... I’m sure Apple doesn’t want this hassle ....it’s either going to be all or none I’m sure, with this feature.

 

[antbob]

yeah thats true, its probably very hard to get legal to sign off on those kinda features and they probably dictate how such features should behave but still it would have been great if Apple made it happen tho. I know I for one would confirm 'Accept/Agree' waiver and keep it in 'Sport' mode at my own risk rather than have it switched off completely.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I have it off because I'm scared of it accidentally calling 911.

I had a really hard fall earlier this year during a jog where I turned to see a dog barking at me, hit a massive incline in the cement and ended up falling hard enough to lose skin on my knee and hands. The dog freaked out so bad at me falling it ran off.

Running home with blood dripping everywhere wasn't a lot of fun. Interestingly enough, the blood drops didn't last long on the cement over the following weeks.

The above is one of the several reasons why I have an LTE watch now, lol.

But I still have fall detection off. <cough>. Debating whether or not to turn it on.

 

[BrettDS]

I have it turned on even though I’m reasonably young and active. I live alone and occasionally get on ladders to do work or do other things that could wind up with me falling and hurting myself, so I feel like it’s at least a bit of extra protection if something were to happen. I’ve had a few false alarms, but really very few, and assuming that you are in fact still conscious and not badly injured the worst is that you need to do is acknowledge to the watch that you are OK and it won’t call 911.

Obviously the OP’s situation where he set his watch on the counter and then left it to take a shower was a bit different, but I feel like in most situations the worst you’ll have to deal with is acknowledging a false alarm, not paramedics beating down your door. There are certainly times when false alarms could be super annoying to deal with, such as if you‘re wearing winter gloves while skiing or work gloves while working, but in my case, at least, I don’t think I’ve had more than 2 or 3 false alarms in the two or three years this feature has been available.

If you haven’t even tried the feature because you’re afraid of false alarms then I think it’s worth trying. You‘ll probably find that there aren’t very many. And if you do get a lot because of specific activities that you do then by all means turn it off again.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

What I'm thinking is based on my personal experience. I snowboard and ride mountain bikes and I have witnessed a few spills up close over the years, both park and backcountry, including some real bad ones. Had a few spills myself too. The question of this thread is 'Are you using fall detection?' and I have tried to explain why I dont and what improvements/changes Apple would need to make so this feature can actually be useful to me.

I think addition of some 'Sport' mode like I have described could be useful to alot of people and actually save lives bc people like me who tried it and ended up switching it off due to false positives would actually end up switching it on knowing its will only go off in real emergency and that could mean life and death difference one day. In the end what good is this feature to me if its turned off?!

Ok, I get it. My focus was on a different demographic. Still, I also have a fair amount of risk sport experience over the years (whitewater canoe/kayak for the most part), though mostly in the days before everyone had a cell phone. I'm still an active hiker. Yes, many incidents of this sort may result in no serious harm. In that case, all one need do is cancel the alarm or respond to the emergency dispatcher's voice inquiry. It's a multi-stage process where only the failure to respond results in the dispatch of emergency services. Isn't that exactly the situation when one is likely to need assistance?

"False positives" aren't really false - they're an expected by-product of having the protection in place for when you really need it, like the smoke alarm that triggers if you burn some toast.

From my perspective, it's not Apple that has to adapt the Watch to risk sports - risk sport participants need to embrace a new piece of safety gear. In my experience, that can take a fair amount of education and peer pressure.

 

[Coastguy]

One of the reasons I bought my watch was for the fall detection, since I live alone. Far less expensive than getting married. I keep getting false positives even while doing the dishes and then 911 is called and I don't answer. It is a problem and seems like a big waste of money, at least for me. I now leave it off all the time and at night only wear it in place of a flashlight.

 

[arc of the universe]

i have Fall Detection turned off.

but i want to use it.
i am waiting until they simply make it an option for official emergency services to be called. i want the primary called contact(s) to be the emergency family contacts you have set up.

 

[GlenK]

I have it on but turn it off if playing pickleball or other sports activity. It has detected falls when it was just during a really physical point.

 

[neutrino17]

I’ve had it turned on from the start. It seems like I get far fewer false alarms than before.

One point about the original story is curious. The OP says they took off the Watch and set it down. At that point the Watch knew it was not on a person‘s wrist. Why would it register a fall? Maybe there is a timer going such that it will still register a fall within a few seconds after you remove it in case you suffer a violent fall and the Watch is ripped from your wrist?

 

[Howard2k]

I’ve had it turned on from the start. It seems like I get far fewer false alarms than before.

One point about the original story is curious. The OP says they took off the Watch and set it down. At that point the Watch knew it was not on a person‘s wrist. Why would it register a fall? Maybe there is a timer going such that it will still register a fall within a few seconds after you remove it in case you suffer a violent fall and the Watch is ripped from your wrist?

The thread was bumped up from 2020.

 

[Mikeske]

I am 65 years old and it was activated automatically for me when I got my series 8 watch. I have had vertigo and inner ear balance medical problems for the last ten years. I think it is great that there is a feature like this. I have had several false alarms on it and a couple swipes and I have cancelled it.

A month ago I did have a fall and in a store and it was a bout of vertigo. EMS was notified via my watch and the store also called. I was not injuries except for my pride but I have the attitude I am glad that it was there and I was checked out.

 

[BlackBun]

I’ve mine enabled.
It has prompted me several times all of which were when I was chopping wood etc with the Watch wrist hand.
Interestingly though, last week I had a heavy fall when I was completing the last leg of a 200 m relay. There’s that moment when you’re aware you’re falling and everything seems in slow motion so as I’m falling a voice in my head is saying ‘mind the watch’ so I hit the ground with my wrist elevated so as not to risk damaging the watch. There was no fall detection prompt.

 

[Tdude96]

I can't recall an instance where it's given me a false alarm. Maybe once, a long time ago. But I'm not going to turn it off even if I do suffer the indignity of not catching the "I'm OK" option fast enough. I spend as much time as I can outside walking, running, hiking, and I've taken some tumbles that have triggered the watch.

Several years ago I slipped and fell on ice in a parking lot late at night with no one else around and smacked the back of my head pretty hard on the pavement. I was dazed for awhile, possibly unconscious for a few seconds, and didn't register that the watch was about to make a call until it was almost too late to cancel.

It'd be nice if they allowed choosing 30 or 60 seconds between the fall and the call. 30 seconds isn't a lot of time to recover from a fall, assess injuries, and cancel an emergency call.

 

[Vundu]

Mine is on. I am very active and only set it off once by accident when I was playing rough with my German Shepherd.

 

[psiddle]

I fell flat on my back on a very slippery sidewalk at my local McDonalds. Had on an old pair of Crocs that were completely worn on the soles which didn't help things. No harm, just embarrassed, when I got inside I noticed the fall alarm and canceled it before it called 911. I use mainly because I ride a motorcycle on the back roads and if I had a problem, I might not be able to get my iPhone out of my pocket.

EMT services will not rescue people wearing Crocs.