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We got a call recently from my elderly grandmother’s Apple Watch letting us know that she’d fallen. This feature was the main reason we bought the watch for her, and it worked when it mattered. (She’s fine.)
We got a call recently from my elderly grandmother’s Apple Watch letting us know that she’d fallen. This feature was the main reason we bought the watch for her, and it worked when it mattered. (She’s fine.)
What did it say? Was it using Siri’s voice?
I bet this is a great feature (and I do have an Apple Watch), but can we please hold for a sec here? This piece reads like an Ad. Furthermore, many comments here are about "I want to see my kids grow up". Now please, calculate the odds of: - you are in a terrible accident - there is no one around you to call an ambulance - you can’t call an ambulance yourself, because you are knocked out or can’t move I think the odd…
Think of it in terms of a risk assessment[1]. If you are engaging in an activity, you should look at the probability of injury and then the consequences if that occurs.
For example, I'm going mountain biking by myself. The area I'm riding in has a loose surface, but no extreme hills or other features. So it's somewhat likely I'll fall, but the consequence of that won't be extreme. Conversely, I'm riding in a hilly area with a rough but grippy surface. Relatively, the probability of a fall may be lower, but the consequence could be much higher.
Using this type of not-exactly-quantitative reasoning, depending on what you are doing (and the consequences of something going wrong), it may be very reasonable to buy a smart watch or something similar just for this purpose.
[1]A not exactly good article on risk matrix use. Also search for "5x5 risk matrix" (NASA probably has a good reference). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_matrix
I bet this is a great feature (and I do have an Apple Watch), but can we please hold for a sec here? This piece reads like an Ad. Furthermore, many comments here are about "I want to see my kids grow up". Now please, calculate the odds of: - you are in a terrible accident - there is no one around you to call an ambulance - you can’t call an ambulance yourself, because you are knocked out or can’t move I think the odd…
I bet this is a great feature (and I do have an Apple Watch), but can we please hold for a sec here? This piece reads like an Ad. Furthermore, many comments here are about "I want to see my kids grow up". Now please, calculate the odds of: - you are in a terrible accident - there is no one around you to call an ambulance - you can’t call an ambulance yourself, because you are knocked out or can’t move I think the odd…
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Not riding a motorcycle would have a much larger effect on survival chances than wearing an Apple device.
I've been riding motorcycles on the street since 1986. For many parts of my life, a motorcycle was my only vehicle (including a couple of winters in Hamilton, ON). During that time I never had any kind of crash or even a particularly close call. Two years ago I decided I didn't want to push my luck any further and sold my bike. Drivers are so distracted now that I feel my luck was going to run out soon.
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Here in India, if you have cellphone signal, you have people near you.
West Michigan (US) here, Verizon has coverage everywhere, I could totally see somebody picking blueberries in a field, tripping and hitting their head. At least around here cell reception != humans within earshot at all.
That said, this is a great feature for many people. I could see it being very beneficial to hunters, elderly people, and people who run in the woods.
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>not small if you do certain sports (e.g. trekking, climbing, etc) If you're serious about hiking/climbing you should never be in a position where you would need an apple watch to save you. You should always let people know where you are going, what you are planning to do, and when you plan to be back or at least back in contact otherwise they should call a rescue team. If you're solo climbing and your apple watch is…
Telling my wife I'm going up the South Loop will let her point S&R in the general area. Where on the 8 1/2 miles of trail (or a bit off it if I stopped to take a leak) am I? (However, that's probably better than what the watch could do as service along there varies from marginal to nonexistent.) On the other hand, I don't see that there is any appreciable fall risk from hiking. It's the scramblers that get hurt, not…
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Likely your Apple Watch won't be able to call for help if you're injured trekking or climbing, unless there's a cell tower on the mountain. Having personally been run over cycling, multiple passersby called 911 for me immediately, and I was in a ambulance in less than 10min.
> Likely your Apple Watch won't be able to call for help if you're injured trekking or climbing, unless there's a cell tower on the mountain. Don't know about the US, but in several mountains I've been on around the world (not in developing countries though), signal was just fine. It might not work for Everest, or the remotest part of the Rockies, but most hikings/treks are not in such places...
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FWIW, unless you are over 60 it's not enabled by default. Presumably this is to minimize false alarms, but if you want this feature enabled, you should make certain it's enabled. Here's how: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208944
s/over 60/under 65/?
Those older than 65 should have it enabled, but should check. (I wasn't sure about the exact age so made a conservative/ lazy guess)