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Q. I’ve heard that I can set up my Apple Watch to help if I have a fall. This could be very useful for me and my older family members. My mom had a fall recently and she lives alone. I’m thinking an Apple Watch could be useful for her and give me some peace of mind.
Can you let me know how fall detection works so I can figure out whether this would be helpful for me and my family?
A. Absolutely. In the past week, I’ve had three Wonder of Tech readers ask me about fall detection on the Apple Watch. So it’s definitely time for a Wonder of Tech article on the topic!
About Apple Watch Fall Detection
Apple introduced fall detection in 2018, beginning with the Apple Watch Series 4. With Fall Detection enabled, your Apple Watch can detect when you’ve had a fall. If you’re unresponsive, your Watch can then contact emergency services and your emergency contacts.
Setting up Fall Detection on your Apple Watch takes just a short time and may help save you in an emergency.
How Apple Watch Fall Detection Works
If your Apple Watch detects that you have had a hard fall (while you’re wearing it), it taps you on the wrist to ask if you have fallen, while playing an alarm and displaying a notification. The alarm gets increasingly louder over a 30-second period to alert others nearby that you have fallen.
If you haven’t actually fallen or you’ve fallen but aren’t hurt, tap the I’m OK btton on the notification or tap the Digital Crown (the round button on the side of the Watch). That will turn off the alarm sound and prevent Emergency Services from being called.
See, 9-to-5 Mac Police officer shares firsthand experience with ‘cool’ Apple Watch fall detection feature
Calling Emergency Services
If you’ve fallen and need help, your Apple Watch can contact emergency services for you or you can make an emergency call from your Watch. To make the emergency call yourself, slide your finger from left to right over the SOS Emergency Call banner on the notification.
Your Apple Watch can also call emergency services for you, if you’re unable to make the call. With Fall Detection turned on, your Apple Watch will call emergency services if you aren’t moving and you haven’t responded to the notification after one minute.
According to Apple, this is what happens when your Watch calls emergency services: “When the call connects, your Apple Watch plays an audio message that informs emergency services that your Apple Watch detected a hard fall and then it shares your current location as latitude and longitude coordinates. If you previously turned on the Share During Emergency Call setting under your Medical ID, your Medical ID is also automatically shared with emergency services. The first time the message plays, the audio is at full volume, but then the volume is reduced so that you, or someone nearby, can talk to the responder. The message continues to play until you tap Stop Recorded Message or the call ends.”
After its call to emergency services has ended, the Watch will call your emergency contacts to let them know you have fallen.
Find out how to set up your emergency contacts => ICE: How the Apple Health App May Save Your Life
Seeing a Record of Falls
You can check the Health app on your iPhone to see a record of the falls detected by your Apple Watch. Open the Health app on your phone and tap the Browse tab in the bottom menu bar. Tap Other Data => Number of Times Fallen.
How to Set Up Fall Detection on Your Apple Watch
Your Apple Watch may already have Fall Detection enabled or you may need to turn on Fall Detection. Either way, you should check to make sure to see whether it’s turned on.
Your Apple Watch will enable Fall Detection automatically if you’re 55 or over. The Watch will know your age if you’ve entered your birthdate, either in the Health app on your iPhone or on your Apple Watch when you set it up.
If you’re younger than 55 and/or you want to check whether you have Fall Detection enabled on your Watch, follow these steps:
- Open the Watch app on your iPhone
- Tap the My Watch tab in the bottom menu bar
- Tap Emergency SOS
- Swipe Fall Detection to On.
You can have Fall Detection turned on Always or Only on during workouts.
Next, look below the Fall Detection settings to check your Emergency Contacts and make sure they’re up-to-date.
Your Thoughts
Do you like the idea of Fall Detection on your Apple Watch? Do you have Fall Detection set up on your Apple Watch? Does having Fall Detection on your Watch give you peace of mind?
Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!
*Apple Watch image (edited) from Shutterstock via PicMonkey Pro
