Thank god for fall detection

[KFridman]

It doesn't only detect falls but hard hits. Was getting into the shower one day and I must have set my AW on the counter a little too hard. Since it wasn't on my wrist I didn't feel the vibration. When the siren (or whatever you call it) started blaring I figured it must be an amber alert and would look at it when I got out. When I was finished I looked at the watch. "Oh, s**t!" Got dressed and looked out the window to see 3 local police officers walking up the driveway. A little embarrassing but it works as advertised.

 

[ThailandToo]

I would thank Tim Apple, as God had nothing to do with it.

 

[philosopherdog]

i fell once running for the subway. cool feature. i wasn't hurt thankfully.

 

[Jackbequickly]

Mine has gone off a few times, mainly because I hit the watch on something! I always panic as if I am not wearing my glasses it is hard to see the "I did not fall" option!

 

[blw777]

Ours have gone off twice. Mine went off when I crashed on my bike. I broke my elbow in the process. I was able to get up and wobble home (fortunately about a mile from home, although the ride was about 25 miles). It went off and I cancelled it.

My wife has had a bad habit of slipping on the stairs. After she wiped out me and both dogs doing it once, we got her a watch, since I travel fairly often and the dogs sure won't call for help. A year later I was 500 miles away and I get a call from her watch... she'd slipped again, but not on the stairs. She was seeing stars but not otherwise hurt, which my neighbor determined a few moments later.

I've never had a false detection, although I routinely get functionally false alerts about sound exceeding 100dB, usually from water splashing in the shower. I know what 100-120dB sounds and feels like, and it's not happening. but that is pretty minor.

 

[swingerofbirch]

Good to hear it worked and you're OK. It's one of the main reasons I got it and that I got the cellular version. Unfortunately, where I recently moved, despite being quite populated, is a cellular dead zone. Everyone has to rely on WiFi calling. So it'll still work but not as much of a fail safe with regard to connection.

 

[Lakris]

I got a few false alarms myself, it works almost too good. 😅
I work at a kindergarten and one time I threw myself on the ground for whatever reason I can't remember, but my aw thought I fell. Another time I hit something too hard, and the aw thought I fell again.

 

[Ratlerbite]

such a courageous addition from Tim Apple

 

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

My watch is WiFi only. The fall detection triggered while my phone was in a pouch on my bike so the call would have gone through that way.

The other thing it did was make a loud “woop…woop…woop” siren until I canceled it, so I’m guessing that siren would be all you get without any cellular connection at all.

If anyone is more informed please feel free to chime in!

In Europe, all consumer electronics with built-in cellular modems, like cellphones, smartphones, smart watches, etc., can call emergency services despite not having an active cellular plan of any kind or any SIM-card inserted in your device.

I layman's terms, this means that all (cellular+Wi-fi) Apple Watch models can call emergency services free of charge even if your iPhone is turned off or not within range and you do not have an active e-SIM cellular plan for your Watch.

For this reason it makes a ton of sense to get the cellular+Wi-fi model if you're living in the EU or go there a lot.

-And yes, you Americans traveling to Europe can make use of this feature with your American bought (cellular+Wifi) Apple Watches without paying for an e-SIM plan. As long as the cellular modem in your watch supports the local E.U. cellular towers.

-I believe all Apple Watch SE (cellular+Wi-fi) models, and certain older (cellular+Wi-fi) Watch models(?), don't feature cellular modems with support for all international cellular tower standards.

You can read more here (no need to read if you have an Ultra or a (cellular+Wi-fi) Series 8 or 9): https://www.apple.com/watch/cellular/

*If it wasn't clear -No "Wi-fi only" Apple Watch model can't make these free emergency calls in the E.U. unless your iPhone is nearby.

 

[Thomas Davie]

Turns out that LYME disease, now diagnosed, was the cause of poor balance, wobbiliness and etc. After digging into my sleep, pulse rates and SPO2s that these all started trending poorly on July 6th approx 5 days before said fall. A CAT scan 2 days ago revealed no brain bleeds or tumors or other irregularities.

Blood test revealed LYME, so > antibiotics and Prednisone. Sadly, neither Heartwatch and/or Autosleep have trend change notifications or this may have been brought to my attention earlier - though to be fair I would probably have ignored said notification(s).

It will however, be easy for me to find typical LYME exposure/incubation times and track that back to when I was hiking through the woods to find the old gold mine roads (1886-1924) near my house.

Wish I was rich enough to live in a sterile underground bunker, but….😜

Tom

 

[Tagbert]

I gave my series 4 Watch to my 80-year-old aunt. She was interested in fall protection so I helped her get things setup. She was in her backyard one day and fell in a low spot where she couldn’t get up. It was a gentle fall so she didn’t get the notice but she was able to call her neighbor using Siri. fortunately her WiFi reaches all the way to the back of her yard.

 

[nateo200]

Falling while carrying cat poop down the driveway does not make quite as compelling a story as the one a few years ago when a guy fell in the mountains and fractured his back in three places, but in both cases it's reassuring to know that the Apple watch detected the fall, and was able to summon help (or in your case willing to summon help).

Glad you weren't seriously injured!

How the heck do you break your back in three places? Ouch! I'm home recovering from a pretty major spine surgery on my neck so I can't imagine that pain in THREE places....I probably should get an Apple watch with all my health conditions.....that auto calling an ambulance though seems like it would be an issue though.

 

[nateo200]

yes, at least in the US/Canada and afaik in some other countries but couldn't list them.
911 calls can be made from any cellular device with or without cell plan

Any GSM device must be able to make 911/112 calls without a SIM card or plan if it can detect a signal. I learned this the hard way when my friends punk little brother wanted to see if an old bag phone could call 911 in the Adirondak Mountains. Though I am not sure that applies specifically to fall detection but idk why it wouldn't.

 

[Fuzzball84]

Fall detection is indeed amazing. I often get caught without a coat as the weather cools.. so detecting fall really helps me stay warm and ensures I don’t leave home without a coat.

Not sure about requiring emergency services… they have been pretty annoyed when I ask them for a foil blanket when they turn up.

🤪

But seriously, features like fall detection can truly make a difference to you and loved ones. Amazing what tech can do to make life better and safer. The added benefit is that most Apple devices are simple to use and so better than a lot of competitors when it comes to ease of use. Especially for older people.

 

[Bandoholic]

As someone who is disabled, I’m happy the feature is there, hopefully I’ll never have to use it.

 

[Thomas Davie]

I had to coorelate information from Heartwatch, Autosleep and Apple Health (would have loved to have had had Vitals a few months back), but it seems as if;

-respiration rate during sleep started to increase about weeks before my fall
- sleep and daily bpm’s also started to increase
-SPO2 sleep/daily started to fall
-heart rate variability increased
-sleep time/day decreased
-walking unsteadiness increased

And this was due to onset of LYME disease. As I get better (Prednisone finished, still on Doxycycline) the aberrations are reversing. Almost back to normal dialysis conditions.

Tom

 

[Thomas Davie]

This is a screen capture of my sleeping respiration rates right at and before my fall. The subsequent medical diagnosis was that LYME had established middle > late June and peak ‘sickness’ wad at or around July 11th when I fell. As the appropriate medication takes hold, my nighttime respiration rates fall back to normal.This is the kind of stuff Vitals can capture.

And even more apparently

Tom

 

[Tagbert]

This is a screen capture of my sleeping respiration rates right at and before my fall. The subsequent medical diagnosis was that LYME had established middle > late June and peak ‘sickness’ wad at or around July 11th when I fell. As the appropriate medication takes hold, my nighttime respiration rates fall back to normal.This is the kind of stuff Vitals can capture.

And even more apparently

Tom

I think, as software makers incorporate AI more, we will get a lot more correlation analysis and projections like this.

 

[jonh229]

Interesting thread. I have fall detection but after several false alarms I have (usually) turn it off if I think activities will activate it. Using a hammer & digging in hard soil are two activities that has activated my watch fairly often. Then there are the times I’ve fallen, best I can recall is 4 falls that did not trigger the watch. 3 of those falls were from a ladder. My most recent fall was a hard fall onto my R knee on the street for which I am now doing exercises to strengthen that knee (fortunately no bone injury). Usually I get up fairly quickly so perhaps that tells the watch to remain silent. I can recall only 2 times in the past 4 years that I have fallen and the watch has alarmed. I wish there was a way to adjust sensitivity. All that said, I’m glad I have it and as I’m in my late 70’s I am more clumsy now.