Its call center and others have alerted Apple to the issue. In mid-January, the company sent four representatives to observe Ms. Dummer and her team for a day; He said he had plenty of examples to show.
In a written statement, Alex Kirshner, “We have learned that in certain scenarios these features have triggered emergency services when the user has not experienced a serious car accident or a serious fall,” an Apple spokesperson said. The company said that when an accident is detected, the watch buzzes and sends a loud alert to alert the user that a call to 911 is being made, and it provides 10 seconds to cancel the call. Does
Apple also said that an update to the software late last year was intended to “optimize” the technology and reduce the number of false calls. “Crash detection and fall detection are designed to get users help when they need it most, and have already contributed to saving many lives,” Mr Kirshner said.
Apple maintains an archive of incidents in which two technologies have come to the rescue. In one case, an Apple Watch alerted authorities after a driver in Indianapolis crashed into a telephone pole and dialed for help. In another, the watch called for help after a New Jersey man fell off a steep cliff while hiking.
In Colorado, call dispatchers had trouble recalling an instance in which a watch saved a skier in distress. (Ms. Dummer said her team had received “very few” false 911 calls from other companies’ devices, such as Android phones.)
The problem extends beyond skiers. “My watch regularly thinks I’ve had an accident,” said Stacey Torman, who works for Salesforce in London and teaches spin classes there. She could be safely on a bike, encouraging her class to build up energy, or waving her arms to congratulate them when her Apple Watch senses danger.
“I want to celebrate, but my watch doesn’t really want me to celebrate,” she said. Oh great, she thinks, “Now my watch thinks I’m dead.”