How (and Why) to Enable Apple Watch 4 Fall Detection
One of the most striking features Apple has announced for its new Apple Watch Series 4 is its drop detection functionality. No, it can’t stop you from spilling, but you can help you warn others more easily that you need help if you’ve hurt yourself badly enough.
But here’s the interesting thing: if you stumble and eat them right now, your Apple Watch won’t warn anyone unless you’re 65. Embarrassed? It’s clear.
It turns out that you need to enter your age in the Apple Health app so that you are at least 65 years old. If you do, fall detection is automatically triggered on your paired Apple Watch Series 4. Kiss the ground and your watch will ask you if you’re okay:
If you fall hard and your watch detects that you are not moving, Apple describes how your device will get a little crazier:
“If your Apple Watch detects that you are stationary for about a minute, it starts a 15-second countdown by simultaneously pressing on your wrist and playing a beep. The warning gets louder so that you or someone nearby can hear it. When the countdown ends, your Apple Watch will automatically contact emergency services. It then sends a message to your emergency contacts with your location, informing them that Apple Watch detected a severe fall and called emergency services. “
If you are young and energetic and you are not 65
Oddly enough, fall detection is not enabled by default on your new Apple Watch. I realize this is probably a much more useful feature for seniors than for younger people, but if you fall off your feet, there is no reason your smartwatch can’t help you. And if you just bought your elders their first Apple Watch, and it’s only 60 years old, you can assume that it is protected by this unusual feature, when in fact it is not.
It’s easy to enable fall detection. Just open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone or iPad. Scroll down to Emergency SOS, tap it and press the digital switch to enable fall detection.
What’s annoying is that Apple doesn’t prompt you to do this during any part of setting up your new Apple Watch, and you probably wouldn’t consider looking there and doing it (unless setting up an emergency contact on your device is one of the first) … What you do with it.) And that reminds me – set up an emergency contact in the Health app, if you haven’t already, so that your device can get the most out of fall detection.