Apple Watch SOS mistakenly calls 15 armed police to gym

(Image credit: Future)

A Sydney-based Muay Thai and boxing trainer accidentally called 15 armed police to his gym after activating Siri on his Apple Watch.

Jamie Alleyne, 34, from Sydney, who trains with his Apple Watch, was shocked when armed police officers knocked on his gym door at 7:45 am during his morning client session to reports of gunshots. The personal trainer was confused as he hadn’t made any calls and there were definitely no guns on the premises.

“And then next minute about 15 officers including undercovers showed up, with several ambulances parked out the front, and that's when I started bricking myself,” he told news.com.au.

Siri's SOS feature saves the day (or does it?)

After checking the most recent calls on his iPhone, Alleyne realized that he had indeed accidentally called 112, an emergency services number.

Turns out Siri is a very good safety companion thanks to the Apple Watch SOS feature: the personal trainer had been wearing his Apple Watch during the gym session and had mistakenly pressed the Digital Crown to activate Siri. After Alleyne realized and removed the watch, Siri stayed active and prompted a call to emergency services after hearing punching combinations being shouted out.

To make matters worse when the dispatcher picked up the phone, they were prompted with the sound of a punching bag and Alleyne shouting out “good shot”. Within minutes armed police officers appeared on the scene to check out the commotion.

Armed police respond to Apple Watch SOS call — (Image credit: PTJ Muay Thai)

According to Alleyne’s boss, Andrew Parnham, “it turned out that Jamie was wearing his new fancy Apple Watch while holding pads.”

This situation shows the efficiency of the SOS features that have been at the forefront of the marketing behind the new Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch Ultra that were released in the Fall of 2022. However, Apple's emergency features haven't been all smooth sailing since its release like the iPhone 14 that alerted dispatch services during a peaceful ski trip. Despite these bumps, both the Ultra and Series 8 models are definitely the best Apple Watch models you can buy right now.

John-Anthony Disotto is the How To Editor of iMore, ensuring you can get the most from your Apple products and helping fix things when your technology isn’t behaving itself. Living in Scotland, where he worked for Apple as a technician focused on iOS and iPhone repairs at the Genius Bar, John-Anthony has used the Apple ecosystem for over a decade and prides himself in his ability to complete his Apple Watch activity rings. John-Anthony has previously worked in editorial for collectable TCG websites and graduated from The University of Strathclyde where he won the Scottish Student Journalism Award for Website of the Year as Editor-in-Chief of his university paper. He is also an avid film geek, having previously written film reviews and received the Edinburgh International Film Festival Student Critics award in 2019. John-Anthony also loves to tinker with other non-Apple technology and enjoys playing around with game emulation and Linux on his Steam Deck.

In his spare time, John-Anthony can be found watching any sport under the sun from football to darts, taking the term “Lego house” far too literally as he runs out of space to display any more plastic bricks, or chilling on the couch with his French Bulldog, Kermit.