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iPhone 14 Pro Max Fall detection failed

D

djrobsd

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 2, 2008
824
25
Just got in a cycling accident. Car cut right in front of me to turn into a liquor store and I slammed into the passenger door and fell on my side. Fortunately no head trauma or major injuries mostly just sore muscles in my shoulder which will probably require PT. Bike may be a goner… had iPhone 14 pro max in back pocket of cycling Jersey and wearing Apple Watch. Neither of them detected the fall. Maybe because I was only on the ground for about 5-10 seconds and then I got back up on my own.

My Garmin Edge 830 also has this feature but did not detect anything either. So I guess the bottom line is a minor fall/accident won’t trigger it. Who knows… Bottom line is we should never rely on technology to save us in an incident but it is still nice to have as I know it does work sometimes.
 
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Knowlege Bomb said:
Crash detection and fall detection are different features.
Click to expand...
Since they said “Neither” their iPhone nor watch detected it, I assume they’re talking about Crash Detection. And they were, technically, involved in a crash - not a fall. But either way, a bicycle crash isn’t the intended circumstance for those features.
 
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djrobsd said:
Maybe because I was only on the ground for about 5-10 seconds and then I got back up on my own.
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Probably. I don’t know Apple’s decided thresholds. However, to me, detecting a return to an upright position would be one factor to conclude the user does not require assistance to contact help. Another would be completing that action in less than 30 seconds.

I can only recall one instance when I assumed the fall detection would engage, although, it didn't. I was walking down a street during twilight hours, turned a corner, and tripped over a knee high snow pile. Like you, I popped up relatively quickly — in part due to embarrassment.
 
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All depends on
djrobsd said:
Just got in a cycling accident. Car cut right in front of me to turn into a liquor store and I slammed into the passenger door and fell on my side. Fortunately no head trauma or major injuries mostly just sore muscles in my shoulder which will probably require PT. Bike may be a goner… had iPhone 14 pro max in back pocket of cycling Jersey and wearing Apple Watch. Neither of them detected the fall. Maybe because I was only on the ground for about 5-10 seconds and then I got back up on my own.

My Garmin Edge 830 also has this feature but did not detect anything either. So I guess the bottom line is a minor fall/accident won’t trigger it. Who knows… Bottom line is we should never rely on technology to save us in an incident but it is still nice to have as I know it does work sometimes.
Click to expand...

Did your airbags go off?
 
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FreakinEurekan said:
Since they said “Neither” their iPhone nor watch detected it, I assume they’re talking about Crash Detection. And they were, technically, involved in a crash - not a fall. But either way, a bicycle crash isn’t the intended circumstance for those features.
Click to expand...
I would figure a bike crash would fall more into the "fall" range than a "crash". It's all based on the accelerometer detecting sudden impacts/movement/hard stops.

When I was snowboarding last year I had a pretty gnarly crash off a jump and fall detection was triggered, which turned into a race to get my gear off before my watch contacted emergency services.
 
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djrobsd said:
Just got in a cycling accident. Car cut right in front of me to turn into a liquor store and I slammed into the passenger door and fell on my side. Fortunately no head trauma or major injuries mostly just sore muscles in my shoulder which will probably require PT. Bike may be a goner… had iPhone 14 pro max in back pocket of cycling Jersey and wearing Apple Watch. Neither of them detected the fall. Maybe because I was only on the ground for about 5-10 seconds and then I got back up on my own.

My Garmin Edge 830 also has this feature but did not detect anything either. So I guess the bottom line is a minor fall/accident won’t trigger it. Who knows… Bottom line is we should never rely on technology to save us in an incident but it is still nice to have as I know it does work sometimes.
Click to expand...
It’s not a proven tech but trust apple to get it right
 
Knowlege Bomb said:
I would figure a bike crash would fall more into the "fall" range than a "crash". It's all based on the accelerometer detecting sudden impacts/movement/hard stops.

When I was snowboarding last year I had a pretty gnarly crash off a jump and fall detection was triggered, which turned into a race to get my gear off before my watch contacted emergency services.
Click to expand...
Yeah fall detection was the one of the few things I turned off on the Apple Watch…. I can only imagine how often it would go off from skateboarding. Haha
 
Do you have fall detection enabled? (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208944)

At one point it was only recommended for folks over a certain age so may not be enabled on your watch. Also, I just checked my settings and while I have it enabled, it’s set to “Only on during workouts” (which is recommended for folks who are active to avoid false positives) rather than “Always on.” So even if you had it on but weren’t actively recording a workout, it may not have triggered.

Also, only your watch is capable of detecting a fall, but your iPhone and watch can detect a car crash. And while you crashed *into* a car, I suspect the ML model is based on folks who are already *in* cars at the time of the accident.
 
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I've had the opposite with fall detection, its gone off a few times when just playing golf.
 
JM said:
Yeah fall detection was the one of the few things I turned off on the Apple Watch…. I can only imagine how often it would go off from skateboarding. Haha
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It's off automatically unless you're age 55 or over.

That's not to say that someone age 55 can't skateboard. But my skateboarding days ended well before age 55...
 
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FreakinEurekan said:
It's off automatically unless you're age 55 or over.

That's not to say that someone age 55 can't skateboard. But my skateboarding days ended well before age 55...
Click to expand...
Really? Huh…. That sounds familiar but I had to turn my fall detection off and I’m less than 55.
 
djrob, appreciate your report. Sounds terrible. Hope you are recovering quickly and that it's not too painful.

Did the driver stop and help you? He should be liable, at a minimum, the cost of the bike and PT. Did you file a police report? Or, not worth the stress and hassle?

It would be interesting to learn if your fall detection was on or not…
 
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