Anyone else wearing a smart watch for fall detection?

MacDoc

MacDoc

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Enjoying my new toy.
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44 mm face, GPS and cellular $60. Still a big learning curve. :D
Got the fall alert set up useful both at home and riding.
Gotta love rich folks selling their cast off tech for cheap.
The Apple Watch's fall detection feature is designed to alert users if it detects a hard fall. When the watch senses a fall, it will "tap" the wearer on the wrist with a vibrating buzz, sound an alarm, and show an alert on the screen asking if the user is okay. The user can then choose to connect to emergency services or dismiss the alert by pressing the "digital crown" button on the side of the watch. If the watch senses the person is not moving, it will begin a 60-second countdown to call emergency services and provide the user's location using its GPS system.
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some cool stories
https://www.reddit.com/r/AppleWatch/comments/1irf1bd/apple_watch_let_me_know_something_was_wrong
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https://www.reddit.com/r/AppleWatch/comments/1fy0qlm/apple_watch_saved_my_life
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I'm certainly a candidate for the fall detection at home due to my age and I'm hoping it's also useful for a crash detection when outside or on the motorcycle.

I did have a fall and got myself a nasty burn the day after getting out of hospital. The docs put it down to the operation and it would have been useful as I was out cold and would have called partner.
As it was I woke up and called her. Did not think it very serious but I am reminded everytime I go shirtless.

From the stories above the detection of high heart rates and tachicardia are informative.

But I'm wondering if anyone is wearing tech for a crash?
or
For health reasons.?
 
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My smart watch doesn't do crash detection. I don't think my wife's does either. When she found out a friend had unexpectedly died, it did alert her to an abnormal heart rhythm.

From listening to scanner, quite a few crashes are called in by automated systems. Many built into cars but some from devices. Often the radius is within a few meters but quite a few times it has a large radius (a few kilometers) so it helps but could still be a while before they find you.
 
Evoex said:
Had 2 apple watches primarily for that. now the tech is on the phone itself.
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On that note, for macdocs watch, does it send out the alert without a sim card? I assume he isn't paying for a data plan for the watch.
 
GreyGhost said:
On that note, for macdocs watch, does it send out the alert without a sim card? I assume he isn't paying for a data plan for the watch.
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Yeah via phone if it's a non LTE model.
 
klr_guy said:
Don't mess around with that, finally got a cause of death from the coroner. Was ruled a heart attack with likely previously undetected arrhythmia.
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It only happened once and it was at the second she found out someone had died so I'm not terribly concerned. I will pass along your concerns and she can raise them with the doc next time she goes though. An ounce of prevention goes a long way.

Sorry to hear about your wife. I'm glad they finally got you a cause. Not knowing is worse.
 
GreyGhost said:
It only happened once and it was at the second she found out someone had died so I'm not terribly concerned. I will pass along your concerns and she can raise them with the doc next time she goes though. An ounce of prevention goes a long way.

Sorry to hear about your wife. I'm glad they finally got you a cause. Not knowing is worse.
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Better safe than sorry.

5+ months, was brutal
 
I have an Apple watch Ultra 2 with cellular. I enjoy not always having to carry the phone especially for morning walks and exercising. Beginning last September I was starting to experience sudden bouts of weakness at times where my legs would just give out on me from extreme weakness. In one of these instances I used the watch to call 911 resulting in an ambulance ride and unknown to me at the time it alerted my wife and son who I had in my contacts as emergency contacts. My son was on a hunting trip 150 km north of Thunder Bay with no cell service. He was immediately contacted and given a satellite phone connection by Apple. Fast forward, multiple tests and five more serious events, I now have a pacemaker and doing cardio rehab.
 
Wow - impressive
Yes my watch sends alert as long as phone in proximity which it is.
When I'm riding I'm always listening to Audible.
At home I've finally got into the habit of keeping my phone at hand as partner does.
So many places want to send a login code I've given up the protesting. :rolleyes:
 
thwak said:
I have an Apple watch Ultra 2 with cellular. I enjoy not always having to carry the phone especially for morning walks and exercising. Beginning last September I was starting to experience sudden bouts of weakness at times where my legs would just give out on me from extreme weakness. In one of these instances I used the watch to call 911 resulting in an ambulance ride and unknown to me at the time it alerted my wife and son who I had in my contacts as emergency contacts. My son was on a hunting trip 150 km north of Thunder Bay with no cell service. He was immediately contacted and given a satellite phone connection by Apple. Fast forward, multiple tests and five more serious events, I now have a pacemaker and doing cardio rehab.
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Yeah this was the big reason i went to an LTE Ultra 1. That you could in fact leave the phone at home if/when you wanted. In the end I tired of smartwatches in general and apples ecosystem..Android has finally done enough to catch up for me to switch back.
 
My condolences :sneaky: :D
Apple drives me crazy at times but at others I'm quite taken by the ease of integration.
I didn't set the watch up to integrate with Audible ...it just did. So can start and stop the book from my wrist.
 
MacDoc said:
My condolences :sneaky: :D
Apple drives me crazy at times but at others I'm quite taken by the ease of integration.
I didn't set the watch up to integrate with Audible ...it just did. So can start and stop the book from my wrist.
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Well.. I finally had enough interest in the folding phones, so that was the primary catalyst. Could never find a use for a tablet, never took it anywhere and at home I'd rather sit in front of 34". But these make perfect sense to me;

On the go it stays as a normal phone and it's actually slimmer (width) then the current 'big' phones that you can't reach across with your thumb..so that's a plus. Then when I'm actually sitting down on break or showing a friend youtube/pics I unfold it for some serious real estate.

Currently no regrets on leaving Apple. But at least this time it was by choice, previously it was around 2014 and it was in anger and frustration because I plugged my iphone 4? Into a friends computer to charge and instead his itunes wiped my **** and installed his instead. Hence the 8 year or so boycott.

Anywho, sorry for derail.

Yes the utility of the smartwatches is quite impressive. I was using it to control my bluetooth speaker that i use on my motorcycle courses from halfway across the parking lot. Taking phone calls in the car via my watch, no need to fumble with a phone or pull over, etc, etc.
 
I have an Apple watch and do have fall detection enabled.

It has gone off twice on me - once in a legit fall. I was OK. It starts beeping wildly in a way different tone than you're used to when it's triggered, so it very much gets your attention and gives you a countdown before it calls 911. In my case, I was OK, so I cancelled it obviously.

I did have a false trigger once when I slipped on some ice and did one of those "whoageeze" arm things to keep from falling, but I guess it thought I had gone down. Same thing, alarm went off with a very audible countdown warning - cancelled, all good.

Considering I've had an Apple Watch for about 5 years, wear it every day, and have only ever had one false trigger (during which I was actually legitimately about to fall), I'll say it's very reliable. I hope I never need it, but as I'm at work slipping and sliding around between equipment on ice half the time, it's reassuring to know that if I actually slipped, fell, and was incapacitated, it would call 911 for me.
 
Watch gave me an alert on my heart rate for 10 minutes midday at above 120 beats per minute. I can't sort any reason for that. I do have tachycardia associated with exertion but was just out riding. :unsure:
I did have a stiff coffee so might have been caffeine. Nah that was later in day.
 
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MacDoc said:
Watch gave me an alert on my heart rate for 10 minutes midday at above 120 beats per minute. I can't sort any reason for that. I do have tachycardia associated with exertion but was just out riding. :unsure:
I did have a stiff coffee so might have been caffeine. Nah that was later in day.
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Last time this happened to me it was after I took far too large of a drag of something far stronger than I anticipated. 😆
 
You remind me of my first encounter with Hawaiian. Back seat of a taxi on our way to the CES in Chicago In the 70s....two drags and don't remember a single thing after that. 🤪

Heart beat in the high 60s now sitting at table having tea and Anzac bickie at 3 am. Low for me.
My pseudoephridine always keeps my heartbeat high when I take it ...most days lately for allergies. So daytime is usually in the 90s.
I can't think of anything I was doing around noon that would get my heart rate over 120 for 10 minutes straight.
Made appointment with doc for next week to discuss. 🍿

9to5mac.com

Watch: Texas man credits Apple Watch with helping save life after heart health scare - 9to5Mac

Heart Month may be coming to a close, but Apple Watch continues to save lives. The latest story comes out...
9to5mac.com 9to5mac.com
 
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All wired up with some sort of 24 hour tracking device after a visit to the doc.
There has been no repeat of the tachy.

Getting the watch sorted to my liking now. Have 8+ info sections immediately to hand -time, temp heartbeat and wind with direction..at a glance..
Mail with a tap and the one on the right is "Vitals" which requires more time to assemble the data.
Top left is an O2 meter for blood oxygen. Mine tends to vary sometimes below 95 but most times in the 98 range which is great. 94 is a little concerning.
I had a finger tip one but it failed....the heartbeat worked but the O2 failed.
Having it all on the wrist is useful ....and the watch also picks up my Alexa alerts
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Certainly has been useful for sleep tracking. Thought I was tossing and turning last night - turns out I got lots of sleep for me 6+ hours and a good mix of light and deep.
The rings on the left are activity and it is nudging me to close them ....stand up, walk etc. Friend who also has one says she enjoys "closing the rings" ....which you set to your own requirements. ( very marginal for me but it might nudge me into more activity. ) :sneaky:

So far $60 well spent and fun learning it.
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