Apple launched the Apple Watch Series 4 with much fanfare at the September 12 event, as the company claims it has developed several innovative features, including here the EKG and fall detection.
But as it turns out, Apple has put a lot of effort into the marketing side of the new-generation Watch, as not only that EKG isn’t yet ready and only offered to Americans, but fall detection isn’t a flawless thing either.
Basically, what fall detection is supposed to do is detect whether you’ve fallen and offer to call emergency services for you. In theory, this could be a life-saving feature, but as many of those of pre-ordered the device found out, fall detection is turned off by default.
Apple has decided to keep this feature off for everyone younger than 65, and the company has buried this information deep into its support documents. So unless you read the entire manual or dig into the Apple Watch app, you might never have fall detection turned off, despite you thinking the feature is activated by default.
How to enable this feature
The Cupertino-based company only enabled fall detection for users who are 65 or older in their Apple accounts.
“If you've entered your age when you set up your Apple Watch or in the Health app and you're age 65 and over, this feature automatically turns on. Apple Watch cannot detect all falls. The more physically active you are, the more likely you are to trigger fall detection due to high impact activity that can appear to be a fall,” Apple explains.
To enable fall detection, you must launch the Apple Watch app on the iPhone and then go My Watch > Emergency SOS > Fall Detection.
In order to use fall detection, Apple Watch must be configured to allow wrist detection. All data is logged into the Health app, and you can check your fall history on your iPhone.