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I got to test out the auto fall detection on the Apple Watch 4 and it works

S

sslade6752

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 16, 2015
73
48
well yesterday after leaving my doctors office for some referral paperwork I had a seizure passed out and fell in the parking lot. Ambulance got to me and I was getting texts from my emergency contacts mom and sister asking if I was ok. The paramedic was impressed but he had a series 3

Finally home and peeling off ekg stickies and body hair the ambulance and the hospital both gave me 12 lead ekgs but the stickies where not computable so I had them all over
 
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First of all, I hope you’re doing better today.

So fall detection called the ambulance?
 
If you were leaving the doctor are you sure they didn’t call. Do you have a call to 911 on your phone log?
 
staggerlee41 said:
Glad to hear this story has a happy ending and you are well. Do you have the LTE version or the GPS only?
Click to expand...
I have the gps plus lte I bought from T-Mobile
Model mtuwwll/a
[doublepost=1543395249][/doublepost]
sclawis300 said:
If you were leaving the doctor are you sure they didn’t call. Do you have a call to 911 on your phone log?
Click to expand...
I have a 911 call in my log plus texts to my emergency contacts

I was outside the building
 
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Now that’s really awesome. Glad to hear such positive stories. Hope you’re ok.
 
sslade6752 said:
well yesterday after leaving my doctors office for some referral paperwork I had a seizure passed out and fell in the parking lot. Ambulance got to me and I was getting texts from my emergency contacts mom and sister asking if I was ok. The paramedic was impressed but he had a series 3

Finally home and peeling off ekg stickies and body hair the ambulance and the hospital both gave me 12 lead ekgs but the stickies where not computable so I had them all over
Click to expand...

I hope you have a speedy recovery.

Thanks for sharing. It's stories like this that really make me think the Watch could wind up being one of Apple's most important products.

The Macintosh empowered me. I was able to get into a field of work that would have been off limits to me before.
The iPod moved me. I had all the music I could listen to anywhere.
The iPhone connected me. Suddenly my iPod was a phone with internet and apps.
The iPad surprised me. It combined a little of the three into one device.

But the Apple Watch has the potential to save lives. It can monitor someones vital signs and alert them to an issue, or it can call for help and notify loved ones. it can improve people's quality of life by encouraging them to be more active with goals and reminders.

It's a relatively new product for Apple still, but it already seems to be making a difference, and I'm excited to see how much more Apple can do with it.
 
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Glad you're OK and that the watch performed so well to get you help! One of the reasons I got my Series 3 was because I had a hard fall outside hitting my head while my iPhone was inside doing me Absolutely No Good! I figured that, if I had something strapped to me, I would be able to call for help. Now I really want the Series 4!!!
 
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Wow.

Soooo happy for you it worked so well, this was one of the main reason I upgraded. I hope like all of us do, to never have to test it. But to hear that it worked just like it was supposed to is amazing.

I hope you are feeling better and never have the opportunity to test it again.
 
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I wonder how the 911 call works? Does it just call 911 and leave the line open or does it actually communicate any information to them?
 
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sslade6752 said:
well yesterday after leaving my doctors office for some referral paperwork I had a seizure passed out and fell in the parking lot. Ambulance got to me and I was getting texts from my emergency contacts mom and sister asking if I was ok. The paramedic was impressed but he had a series 3

Finally home and peeling off ekg stickies and body hair the ambulance and the hospital both gave me 12 lead ekgs but the stickies where not computable so I had them all over
Click to expand...
Awesome thanks for sharing hope u are doing well.
 
Thank you so much for sharing this! Fall detection is the number one reason I bought the Apple Watch, and I’m heartened every time I hear it working as planned for someone. I hope I’m never one of these stories, but if I am, the fact that I wear the watch as much as possible will probably do me as good.

I’m so glad you’re okay, and got a reason for the seizure.
 
I’m glad to hear it works for people.

Sadly, for me, I had to turn it off due to getting too many false positives. I wear my series 4 while playing volleyball (not ideal but I like to track my excercise), and it triggers several times per game. Usually while receiving a spike.
 
hspace said:
I’m glad to hear it works for people.

Sadly, for me, I had to turn it off due to getting too many false positives. I wear my series 4 while playing volleyball (not ideal but I like to track my excercise), and it triggers several times per game. Usually while receiving a spike.
Click to expand...
Why not just turn it off during matches?
 
hspace said:
I’m glad to hear it works for people.

Sadly, for me, I had to turn it off due to getting too many false positives. I wear my series 4 while playing volleyball (not ideal but I like to track my excercise), and it triggers several times per game. Usually while receiving a spike.
Click to expand...

That’s not false positive considering the feature is for people who’s over 60 who’s supposedly not the age to enjoy volleyball.
And the triggering is not the point of the feature. The point of the feature is you’re motionless for more than a minute after it’s triggered. So if it’s triggered and you’re fine just tell it you’re ok. Nothing’s wrong with that. It’s there for when you’re not fine, that’s the whole point.
 
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matrix07 said:
That’s not false positive considering the feature is for people who’s over 60 who’s supposedly not the age to enjoy volleyball.
And the triggering is not the point of the feature. The point of the feature is you’re motionless for more than a minute after it’s triggered. So if it’s triggered and you’re fine just tell it you’re ok. Nothing’s wrong with that. It’s there for when you’re not fine, that’s the whole point.
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I understand all that. :rolleyes: I'm merely pointing out that false positives do occur - in spite of early testers of the watch apparently having a hard time to verify it working.

And, no it does not see if you are motionless for a minute. It immediately ask "did you fall?", and if you don't reply it will notify emergency contacts. Which is tricky to do in the middle of a game. Which is why I disabled it.

But I have no problem with the feature otherwise, it is not designed for people like myself. (although I'm getting up in the years) I had hoped it would be smarter and learn from my "no I did not fall" responses, but it does not. So I ended up turning it off.
 
hspace said:
And, no it does not see if you are motionless for a minute. It immediately ask "did you fall?", and if you don't reply it will notify emergency contacts. Which is tricky to do in the middle of a game. Which is why I disabled it.
Click to expand...

I think this is one of the widely misunderstood aspect of the feature. Simply No.. it won’t notify emergency contact IF your hand still has movement. You can finish your game and cancel it (by telling it you’re ok) afterward if you’d like. It won’t do a thing as long as your hand still moving.
(Notice on that screen there is no countdown clock)

It ONLY call for the emergency when your hand is motionless for a minute after it’s triggered.

I repeat.. the triggering part is not the point of the feature. The whole point is you have to be motionless for one minute. And it makes perfect sense if you think about it.

I think in this case Apple is right to err on the caution side. To trigger it more easier and have you explicitly tell it you’re OK than not trigger it when you need it the most.
 
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hspace said:
I’m glad to hear it works for people.

Sadly, for me, I had to turn it off due to getting too many false positives. I wear my series 4 while playing volleyball (not ideal but I like to track my excercise), and it triggers several times per game. Usually while receiving a spike.
Click to expand...

Interesting...I lead an active life, am way under 60. And I have it activated and haven’t had any false alerts. I went to Disneyland on Wednesday and with all the different motion there I had no issues.
This morning I will work out for 1.5 hours doing all different things and the work out never sets it off. For me it has been pretty accurate since the series 4 came out.
 
tl01 said:
Interesting...I lead an active life, am way under 60. And I have it activated and haven’t had any false alerts. I went to Disneyland on Wednesday and with all the different motion there I had no issues.
This morning I will work out for 1.5 hours doing all different things and the work out never sets it off. For me it has been pretty accurate since the series 4 came out.
Click to expand...

It has to have sharp force on your hand. Digging will look like a fall to the watch, while Volleyball a trip or slip.
This is why most of the early tests not successful because they only simulated the falls, not the force on your hand.
 
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