The Apple Watch’s Fall Detection feature is being credited as helping save an unresponsive man in Chandler, Arizona.
Fall Detection, introduced on the Apple Watch Series 4, can detect if a user takes a hard fall and will alert local emergency services if they don’t respond within 60 seconds.
The potentially life-saving capabilities of that feature were on display on April 23, when police dispatchers in Chandler received a 911 call from an automated voice, according to local media outlet KTAR.
The auto-generated message indicated that an Apple Watch wearer had fallen and was not responding, and also provided authorities with the exact latitude and longitude of the man’s location.
When officers and the Chandler Fire Department showed up, they found that the man 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.”
When a user takes a hard fall, Fall Detection will prompt the user to respond and dismiss the notification or contact first responders. If the user doesn’t dismiss the dialog within one minute, the Apple Watch will do so automatically.
This isn’t the first time that Fall Detection was credited with helping to save someone in distress. In 2019, the feature reportedly alerted authorities when an Australian woman with epilepsy suffered a seizure. Emergency SOS, which allows an Apple Watch owner to contact emergency services from their wrist, has also helped users in emergency circumstances.
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