iPhone 14: How Crash Detection Works and How to Turn It Off

[MacRumors]

With the launch of iPhone 14 and new Apple Watch models, Apple introduced a new safety feature called Crash Detection. Keep reading to learn what it is, how it works, and how to turn it on and off.

What Is Crash Detection?

Crash Detection is designed to detect severe car crashes in passenger cars. If you're in a severe crash and unresponsive, your Apple device can automatically call emergency services on your behalf.

How Does Crash Detection Work?

While you're driving or you're a passenger in a motor vehicle, the motion sensor with a high dynamic range gyroscope and high-g accelerometer, GPS, barometer, microphone, and advanced motion algorithms work together in your iPhone or Apple Watch to accurately detect a crash.

When a severe crash is detected, an alert displays on your Apple Watch or iPhone display for 10 seconds. If you're still responsive, you can swipe the screen to call emergency services immediately or dismiss the alert if you don't need to contact them. If after 10 seconds you haven't interacted with your Apple device, a 10-second countdown will start. When it ends, emergency services are contacted.

When emergency services pick up, the following audio message from Siri begins playing on a loop with five seconds of silence between each replay: "The owner of this iPhone was in a severe car crash and is not responding to their phone." Siri will then relay your estimated location with latitude and longitude and search radius both to emergency services and through your device's speaker.

The message is loudest the first time it is played, after which other replays have a reduced volume in case you are able to speak to emergency services. The message continues to repeat until you tap the Stop Recorded Message button or the call ends.

If you have emergency contacts set up, they will also be notified of the crash after another 10-second countdown, and if you have configured Medical ID information, a slider will appear on the Lock Screen for quick access.

What Kinds of Crashes Can It Detect?

According to Apple, Crash Detection can detect front impacts, side impacts, rear-end collisions, and rollovers.

Which Apple Devices Support Crash Detection?

Crash Detection is supported on the following iPhone and Apple Watch models.

• iPhone 14
• iPhone 14 Plus
• iPhone 14 Pro
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
• Apple Watch SE (2nd Generation)
• Apple Watch Series 8
• Apple Watch Ultra

How to Enable Crash Detection

No setup is required. Crash Detection is enabled by default on the above supported devices, so you don't need to do a thing. If you're concerned that the feature could mistakenly register a crash and call emergency services, you can disable it by following the steps below.

How to Disable Crash Detection

1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Scroll down and tap through to Emergency SOS.
3. Under "Crash Detection," toggle off the switch next to Call After Severe Crash.

If ever you want to enable the feature, simply toggle on the switch again in Settings.

Article Link: iPhone 14: How Crash Detection Works and How to Turn It Off

 

[kognos]

Yep. Turning this off.

I really cannot conceive of a point in my city life where a crash that is severe enough that I would need this, and no one else would've called already, if I weren't conscious. I've had too many automated things "butt-dial"... last thing I need is for this to crash detect that I threw groceries on the counter and get the cops to my home.

 

[chabig]

I really cannot conceive of a point in my city life where a crash that is severe enough that I would need this, and no one else would've called already

Single car crash, no witnesses–maybe at night or in a sparsely populated area. Groceries will not trigger it.

 

[Unggoy Murderer]

Yep. Turning this off.

I really cannot conceive of a point in my city life where a crash that is severe enough that I would need this, and no one else would've called already, if I weren't conscious. I've had too many automated things "butt-dial"... last thing I need is for this to crash detect that I threw groceries on the counter and get the cops to my home.

What absolute nonsense. If you're literally launching your groceries from a trebuchet or something, this'll be one feature that will be very hard to get a false positive on. The feature relies on gyroscopic, microphone, accelerometer, GPS and barometric inputs to trigger it - you won't get all five by slamming your groceries down or putting it in your pocket.

 

[amartinez1660]

Except if the crash is so severe that the phone gets slammed to the point of being inoperable.

What absolute nonsense. If you're literally launching your groceries from a trebuchet or something, this'll be one feature that will be very hard to get a false positive on. The feature relies on gyroscopic, microphone, accelerometer, GPS and barometric inputs to trigger it - you won't get all five by slamming your groceries down or putting it in your pocket.

It does sound like it has to be a legit situation.

—
Cynic skeptic mode on!: expecting this to be a challenge for the TikToks and the ‘grams to try to either fool it, fake complain (how it supposedly “ruined an evening because someone jump-danced so hard that it triggered”) or at least mention some sort of battery something. /s

 

[infinitejest]

Why would anyone turn this off? Are people that lazy that the convenience of having to click on "cancel" in case you're in just a minor car crash and prefer calling the emergency hotline yourself is more important than actually saving your life in case you really need the feature?

 

[kognos]

Single car crash, no witnesses–maybe at night or in a sparsely populated area. Groceries will not trigger it.

Look, Apple is not known for great design decisions in some areas.

To this day, I can pull my phone out of my pocket and "accidentally" turn on the flashlight or camera. There is no way to disable this. No way to move this. None.

So before you tell me how this can or can't work, I'll bet you that this "feature" can either be triggered by incidental movement, or it conversely will not be triggered when I would actually want it. The irony is that anyone who needs it would be unconscious.

My comment about groceries is flippant, but then again "butt-dialing" became a thing because of bad design decisions vs reality. I expect this feature to be triggered inappropriately.

 

[Smigit]

I've had too many automated things "butt-dial"... last thing I need is for this to crash detect that I threw groceries on the counter and get the cops to my home.

I’m confident Apple will have been very careful with the calibration of this. They don’t need the bad press because 0.1% of the 200-300 million iPhones and Apple Watches they’ll sell next year accidentally triggered emergency services, even once. They’ll be told to disable the feature if it’s falsely calling and tying up emergency services.

 

[kognos]

What absolute nonsense. If you're literally launching your groceries from a trebuchet or something, this'll be one feature that will be very hard to get a false positive on. The feature relies on gyroscopic, microphone, accelerometer, GPS and barometric inputs to trigger it - you won't get all five by slamming your groceries down or putting it in your pocket.

I’m confident Apple will have been very careful with the calibration of this. They don’t need the bad press because 0.1% of the 200-300 million iPhones and Apple Watches they’ll sell next year accidentally triggered emergency services, even once. They’ll be told to disable the feature if it’s falsely calling and tying up emergency services.

That is kind of my point.

The risk of it going off when unneeded is bad enough, but the risk of it being relied on and not working is ridiculous. I want to see some crazy youtuber actually crash a car to test this before I would even risk turning it on.

In the years I've been alive, I've had very few accidents.
In those accidents, I've never been rendered unable to call or walk away from them.
I suspect very few exceed my averages, really.
This is a feature that Apple adds for publicity's sake with an incredible level of risk to failure, with almost no realization of benefit.

On the flip side, all of those inputs would have to be read at a fast rate in order for the alerting to be useful, so minimally leaving it off should save battery. And on top of that, I seriously doubt Apple accepts liability for it not working as expected in the 4 scenarios for crash.

 

[The Game 161]

lol zero reason to turn it off

 

[Smooch]

Since you all are discussing the details of this feature...
I was wondering if riding on a rollercoaster would trigger a false positive 🤔

 

[moonmonkeyRambo]

Yep. Turning this off.

I really cannot conceive of a point in my city life where a crash that is severe enough that I would need this, and no one else would've called already, if I weren't conscious. I've had too many automated things "butt-dial"... last thing I need is for this to crash detect that I threw groceries on the counter and get the cops to my home.

This is the dumbest thing I have heard in my life, good luck!

 

[Unggoy Murderer]

[...] This is a feature that Apple adds for publicity's sake with an incredible level of risk to failure, with almost no realization of benefit. [...]

Can you point to a single, reputable source to back up your "incredible level of risk to failure" claim?

The benefit is pretty simple: in the very unlikely chance you are in a severe car crash, the device could give you a head start on getting help. In addition, you don't need to be unconscious for it to help.

 

[Unggoy Murderer]

Since you all are discussing the details of this feature...
I was wondering if riding on a rollercoaster would trigger a false positive 🤔

The forces in a car crash are extreme, unless something went wrong on the coaster, I'm sure it'll be fine, but it's an interesting thought though. Rollercoasters will normally only run into single-digit G-forces for acceleration and deceleration. In addition, the sensor combinations needed for the feature to trigger wouldn't happen all at once.

 

[PsykX]

Maybe if you don't care about your life, you can turn it off.
Even if it consumes a bit of battery, I'll keep it on

 

[chabig]

I want to see some crazy youtuber actually crash a car to test this before I would even risk turning it on.

Apple already did that. They talked about it during their presentation.

 

[ProfessionalFan]

When did people become so skeptical and negative of every single thing?

This sounds like a great and useful feature that hopefully nobody here ever needs.

I see no valid reason to disable it.

 

[splitpea]

Looking forward to seeing the false alarms that riding the NYC subway generates for this…

What absolute nonsense. If you're literally launching your groceries from a trebuchet or something, this'll be one feature that will be very hard to get a false positive on. The feature relies on gyroscopic, microphone, accelerometer, GPS and barometric inputs to trigger it - you won't get all five by slamming your groceries down or putting it in your pocket.

And since I’m pretty much never in a car, why would I want all of these on all the time, eating battery and presenting privacy risks?

Why would anyone turn this off? Are people that lazy that the convenience of having to click on "cancel" in case you're in just a minor car crash and prefer calling the emergency hotline yourself is more important than actually saving your life in case you really need the feature?

How about living in a walkable city and never getting into a car, and valuing everything you can squeeze out of the battery because when you’re out and about you don’t have access to a charging source and an extra power bank would add to the weight you have to carry on your own back?

 

[JosephAW]

Key phrase: “iPhone cannot detect all crashes.”
Translation: Don’t depend on this feature in an emergency.

 

[reklex]

reading this thread you’d think people work at Apple, worked on the feature, were the actual test dummies when they were perfecting Crash Detection and know false positives from everyday life situations will trigger it.

 

[Unggoy Murderer]

And since I’m pretty much never in a car, why would I want all of these on all the time, eating battery and presenting privacy risks?

Then you don't need to switch it on? Considering how much effort put into marketing privacy on iPhone, I doubt your privacy is at any risk from this feature.

BTW, if you're concerned about privacy, don't look too closely at the volume of trackers / technologies on this website.

 

[StuBeck]

I’m confident Apple will have been very careful with the calibration of this. They don’t need the bad press because 0.1% of the 200-300 million iPhones and Apple Watches they’ll sell next year accidentally triggered emergency services, even once. They’ll be told to disable the feature if it’s falsely calling and tying up emergency services.

Eh, the Apple watch had emergency services calling setup by default for years and wasn't asked to turn it off.

I can see why people wan to shut it off. I don't see why that is a concern of others as it doesn't affect them.

 

[notabadname]

Yep. Turning this off.

I really cannot conceive of a point in my city life where a crash that is severe enough that I would need this, and no one else would've called already, if I weren't conscious. I've had too many automated things "butt-dial"... last thing I need is for this to crash detect that I threw groceries on the counter and get the cops to my home.

Tiger Woods rolled his car off an embankment in a VERY populated suburban California area, and was not discovered for 10 minutes. Had his accident been one that where his heart-health was critical, the 10 minutes could've cost him his life. “Butt dialing”, which we all have done, is as simple as a perceived “touch” to activate. The accident detection algorithms you want to disable are an order of magnitude more conditional to activate. You aren’t going to “butt-dial” a car accident by putting your phone in your jeans pocket.

I have NEVER needed the airbags in my car - they started to become standard about 34 years ago (Chrysler made standard in 1988-89)- and I have been driving since before that time . I am not going to disable those either.

 

[TypeMRT]

Thankfully it only takes one person’s iPhone with this feature enabled to call emergency services to the scene where they’ll treat everyone involved.

I’ll be keeping it enabled because I’ve had two positive experiences with fall detection on the watch. Both times I was riding my electric scooter in the bike lane and had collisions with cars. The passengers and their cars were fine but I wasn’t. I doubt if their iPhones or watches would have registered the collisions but my watch did. Otherwise, I haven’t experienced any false alarms. That’s good enough for me until I have several personal experiences with the feature failing.

 

[tallflguy]

It’s literally no reason to turn this off. The same people that would turn this off probably don’t wear seatbelts and disable the airbags in their car. Can’t fix stupid.