- A spin-class teacher told The New York Times her Apple Watch often "thinks I'm dead" during classes.
- Her movements triggered Fall Detection which calls emergency services unless the user stops it.
- But woman said the watch did not react when she actually fell "hard" running for a bus.
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A spin-class teacher said her Apple Watch regularly "thinks I'm dead" as it detects potential accidents during her classes – but failed to react when she had a genuine accident.
"My watch regularly thinks I've had an accident," Stacey Torman, from London, England, told the New York Times, describing whether it be when she is riding the bike, cheering people on, or waving at her students to congratulate them during her spin classes.
Torman added that, at moments "I want to celebrate," her watch "thinks I'm dead."
Fall Detection, which is available on Apple Watch SE, Series 4, and later models, taps the wearer on the wrist, sounds an alarm, and displays an alert. If it senses the person has been immobile for "about a minute," it will automatically call emergency services.
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It's designed to detect if someone has suffered a "hard" fall, according to the company.
But Torman told the Times she once fell down "really hard" while running for a bus and the watch did not react.
The Times article focussed on how emergency services in Colorado were flooded with false emergency calls from skiers' Apple devices. One police officer told the newspaper the calls make it harder for him to get his "daily job done."
Apple did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
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Alex Kirschner, a company spokesperson, told the Times in a written statement: "We have been aware that in some specific scenarios these features have triggered emergency services when a user didn't experience a severe car crash or hard fall."
"Crash detection and fall detection are designed to get users help when they need it most, and it has already contributed to saving several lives," Kirschner added.
Apple also has Crash Detection, which is designed to detect severe car crashes, according to the tech giant's website. It sends users a message with an alarm sound if it detects a crash and, if this is not dismissed within 20 seconds, sends an automated message to the closest emergency call center with their GPS coordinates.
The feature only works for iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro and for Apple Watch Series 8, the second-gen Apple Watch SE, and Apple Watch Ultra.
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