How Does Apple Watch Knows You’re Standing & Detects Fall?

In this article, we will try to understand how does apple watch knows you’re standing & detects fall, how to set up a fall detection and how good does it work.

Long gone the times when watches were a medium to watch the time because the revolutionary brand, Apple has completely changed the perspective of how people look at the watches.

Apple started this journey by launching the Apple Watch, which, along with telling the time, lets the users count the calories and reply to the messages. It is needless to say that Apple Watch has turned around the paradigms of watches into the medical devices.

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The Apple Watch 2018 has the tendency to detect the fall and do the on-spot ECG to identify the heart performance and calls the emergency service.

This feature has been helping the patients all around. According to the reports, the people aged over 65 years old, one-third of them are prone to hit the fall that can be dangerous for them.

This is why Apple has incorporated this technology into the Apple Watch. The fall detection feature is automatically switched on in the watch for people above 65 years old and also, calls 911 immediately.

Read more: Which Smartwatch Has Fall Detection? Best 8 In 2023.

How Does Apple Watch Knows You’re Standing And Detects Fall?

But the question arises that how does Apple determine the position of the watch wearer? Rather than calling the Apple watch a “smartwatch” like a layman, we being the tech freaks went down deeper to find the real details.

The watch uses a somehow similar “swim detection mechanism” to detect the fall or stand. The watch is incorporated with the accelerometer with an aim to detect the changes in the motion, and the gyroscope helps the detecting the axial rotations.

These two add-ons help the watch detect the stroke of the wearers. To ensure the timely yet accurate results, Apple collected the data from the unplanned and real-world interaction of the ground and the human body.

This data sample was utilized to design the algorithm for the detection of the fall. In this fall data collection, 2500 people were selected from the movement disorder clinics and the Apple employees, which shaped the data for around 250,000 days.

The data collected was from real accidents such as falling while wearing the pants or while spilling off the ladder or while tripping the foot while walking.

Apple identified the need for real-world data when they identified the difference between the motion patterns of the real fall and stuntman fall. Along with collecting the data for the falls, they also collected the data for a normal motion to differentiate between stand and fall.

This is because they didn’t want the watch to call 911 if the person was just playing football or jumping down the bed. Now comes the emergency calling feature of the Apple Watch. As the watch has been incorporated with the algorithm, gyroscope, and the accelerometer to detect the fall, it immediately notifies the person if the infers the fall.

If the user doesn’t respond to the fall alert in one minute, it automatically calls the emergency support, 911. However, it requires robust network coverage to make a call, so don’t forget to take your phone with you if you aren’t using the cellular version of the Apple Watch.

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The Emergency Calling

When a person falls down, the fall detection algorithm will beep the fall alert message. If the person is alright, they need to click on ‘I am fine’ within one minute. However, if the person fails to respond, the watch calls 911 immediately to ensure robust help for the person.

Switching On The Fall Detection – How Is It Done?

For the users aged 65 or older, the fall detection is switched on by default in Apple Watch 4 and 5. However, for the younger people, the below-mentioned steps need to be taken to activate the fall detection.

• Open the Watch App on the connected iPhone
• At the bottom left corner, click on “My Watch.”
• Click on “Emergency SOS”
• Scroll down and switch on the “fall detection.”

Once you switch on the fall detection, it will automatically call 911, but some people have other emergency contacts to call. To add the family or friends as emergency contacts, go to the “Apple Health” app and add the emergency contacts in the profile section.

This feature has been helping save lives and what do you think about the statement where we said that watches aren’t the medium to check the time now?

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