Apple Watch fall detection summoned paramedics after biker was hit by a car

Apple Watch Series 5 (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

Apple Watch fall detection helped a San Francisco biker.
He'd been hit by a car.
His Apple Watch alerted paramedics.

Apple Watch fall detection is a feature that is designed to help people who take a fall and aren't able to summon help by themselves. It's particularly useful for the elderly who live alone, but it can also come in handy if you're a biker hit by a car. As Willian Bout found out (via 9to5Mac).

Got hit by a car this morning on way to work. I don’t have a lot of memories from the event but Apple Watch automatically called 911 (I was unconscious) and paramedics were within minutes. Technology truly feels amazing sometimes.Got hit by a car this morning on way to work. I don’t have a lot of memories from the event but Apple Watch automatically called 911 (I was unconscious) and paramedics were within minutes. Technology truly feels amazing sometimes.— William Bout (@williambout) January 10, 2020 January 10, 2020

That's surely not what Apple had in mind when fall detection was designed, but we're glad to see it helping out when needed. Unfortunately, Bout's bike didn't hold up to the incident too well, though.

@VanMoof Can we do something about that? pic.twitter.com/2qZpXgwtlB @VanMoof Can we do something about that? pic.twitter.com/2qZpXgwtlB— William Bout (@williambout) January 10, 2020 January 10, 2020

Fall detection works by automatically calling emergency services when a sudden fall is detected and an alert isn't dismissed within 60 seconds. If that's the case the watch assumes the wearer is incapacitated and calls for help. As Bout was unconscious, that's exactly what happened in this case.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.