The Apple Watch Fall Detection feature is credited with helping to save an unresponsive Chandler, Arizona man.
The Fall Detection feature, which debuted alongside the Apple Watch Series 4, can detect when the wearer takes a hard fall and alerts emergency services if the person doesn’t respond within 60 seconds.
Police dispatchers in Chandler received a 911 call from an automated voice on April 23, says a report from local media outlet KTAR.
When officers and the Chandler Fire Department arrived, they found a man who had fainted and collapsed.
“He would never have been able to provide us his location or any information on what was going on,” dispatcher Adriana Cacciola told KTAR. “He wasn’t even aware that any help was coming until we were already there.”
The Fall Detection feature on the Apple Watch Series 4 and above is turned on by default for users 65 years of age or older. Younger users will need to turn it on manually.
When a fall is detected, the feature prompts the user to respond by dismissing the notification or requesting it to contact 911. If the user does not respond within one minute, the Apple Watch calls 911 automatically.
This incident is just the latest report of the Apple Watch being credited with saving someone after they took a fall. In June 2019, the feature came to the aid of an 87-woman in Maine following a car accident.
For information on how to manually enable the Fall Detection feature on your Apple Watch Series 4 or Series 5, visit our how-to.
