Apple Watch's fall detection feature saves man's life

[midian182]

What just happened? Not for the first time, an Apple Watch user is alive because of the wearable. In this instance, a Norwegian man who collapsed on his bathroom floor and suffered skull fractures survived after the fall detection feature summoned emergency services.

67-year-old Toralv Østvang will no doubt be thankful he was wearing his Apple Watch 4 when he went to the bathroom in the middle of the night. It’s believed that he fainted, and the resulting fall caused three fractures in his skull.

Responding to the watch’s alert, paramedics found Østvang “bloody and unconscious” half an hour later, according to NRK. Had he not been discovered, it's unlikely that Østvang would have survived the night.

Østvang’s daughter, Kirsti, said he never took his phone into the bathroom, or previously considered using any form of fall alert.

Thanks to the Apple Watch 4’s accelerometer and gyroscope, it can detect when a wearer falls over. The device then asks if everything is okay. Should it fail to receive a response and the person is immobile for a full minute, it will automatically call 911 (or the local equivalent) and send a message along with location data. The feature is switched on by default for users aged 65 and over.

While smartwatches haven’t taken the world by storm, Apple’s wearables remain popular. A lot of that success is down to their focus on health and fitness, with the ECG functionality in the latest version also credited with saving lives.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/78581-apple-watch-fall-detection-feature-probably-saved-man.html

 

[QuantumPhysics]

And that's why I bought Applewatch over fitbit or those other not-worth-mentioning -watches.

 

[Dimitrios]

I was never into smart watches but my brother bought my mom the FITBIT VERSA. I wish it had more options like when someone has a stroke or when stuff like this happens. My mom is 66 and I found her a few years ago laying on the floor from a stroke and if I wasn't there she would of been dead.

Back to the subject most of these " HEALTH" watches are full of fluff and useless crap and found out quickly when I had to setup her FITBIT. Cell phones won't eat this kind of market because most people don't carry their phone's 24/7 and the watch is perfect. I'm not saying it's a gimmick but I'm not impressed with most of these watches. Yes heart beat, blood Pressure is pretty useful but can it save people's live quickly? My girlfriends mother sadly died many years from passing out and falling down the stairs and they own almost the same house, a 2 floor raised ranch and I worry about my mom falling down the stairs someday since she lives alone most of the time.