What you should know
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- Fall detection on the Apple Watch Series 4 or later, and Apple Watch Ultra, detects hard falls and can alert the wearer, sound an alarm, and offer to contact emergency services.
- If the wearer doesn’t move for about a minute after a fall, the Apple Watch will automatically call emergency services and notify the wearer’s emergency contacts, sharing the location and indicating a hard fall was detected.
- A real estate broker, Eric Zollinger, credits the Apple Watch with saving his life after a severe bike accident triggered the fall detection feature, leading to emergency services being alerted while he was unconscious.
- The fall detection feature on the Apple Watch has been credited with saving lives in several instances, including a woman who collapsed from a ruptured aorta in a hotel room, highlighting its importance in emergency health and safety.
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Full Story
Oh, let’s clear this up right away. The fall detection on the Apple Watch? It’s not about autumn leaves and pumpkin spice lattes. Nope. It’s way more serious than that. It’s about catching you when you physically fall, not when the season does. So, if you’re rocking an Apple Watch Series 4 or anything newer, like the Ultra, and you take a tumble, this feature’s looking out for you.
Here’s the deal. You fall hard. The watch gets that something’s up because you’re suddenly closer to the ground. If you’re still moving, it’s like, “Hey, you okay?” It taps you on the wrist, rings an alarm, and pops up an alert. You’ve got options then. Either call for help or swipe it off if you’re fine.
But wait, there’s more. If you’re out cold or just can’t move for a minute post-fall, your watch turns into a superhero. It dials 911 and pings your emergency contacts. “FYI,” it tells them, “your person took a hard fall. Here’s where they are.” Pretty neat, right?
Switching gears. Ever felt so bad about how you looked that you just didn’t want to go outside? Zellinger totally gets that. After a nasty spill on a Citi Bike, he holed up at home for three days. Why? He felt he looked like a monster. The New York Post shared his story, and it’s something.
This whole mess started about a month ago. Zollinger was biking, right? Then, bam, an 8-inch pothole hidden by rainwater got him good. “Massive storm, pothole’s a mini lake, and there’s me, trying to navigate through,” he recalls. Next thing, he’s airborne, then pavement-bound. First thing he checks? His teeth. Thankfully, his veneers survived.
But it got gnarly fast. Back at his place, he’s bleeding like crazy from his nose, thinks it’s broken. Tries to shower, and whoa, it’s like a crime scene in there. Gets dizzy, passes out, and whacks his head on the tub. Out cold.
Here’s where it gets wild. His Apple Watch senses the fall and dials 911. Zollinger wakes up to the operator’s voice coming from his wrist. “911, what’s your emergency?” Even though he cancels the call and ends up okay after a hospital visit, he’s all praises for the Apple Watch. “Saved my life,” he says.
After hiding out for a bit because of his looks, Zollinger’s story has a happy ending. His bruises and swelling healed, and he’s out there telling everyone how his Apple Watch came through in a clutch. “Apple thinks of everything,” he marvels. And he’s not the only one with a story like this.
Last May, another life was saved. A woman collapsed in her hotel room from a ruptured aorta. Normally, that’s it. Game over. But her Apple Watch’s fall detection called for help in time. She made it because of that.
So yeah, these stories? They’re a big deal. They show just how much a little piece of tech on your wrist can mean in emergencies. Apple Watch’s fall detection isn’t just a feature. It’s a lifeline.
