The latest iteration of Apple‘s premium smartwatch dubbed Apple Watch series 4 comes studded with features that not only help users stay healthy or keep fit but as we have seen, the features could be lifesaving. 67-year-old Norwegian, Toralv Østvang would definitely agree with the last part, as he was a beneficiary of one of the Watch 4’s lifesaving features. Now, we ain’t talking of the heart rate monitor or the classic electrocardiogram scanner. That feature is the fall detector.
The story goes that Mr Toralv had fainted in the bathroom and hit the floor hard in the process. The Apple Watch automatically called for emergency help, and the Norwegian was admitted into the hospital bleeding and suffering from three fractures in his face. According to his daughter, he might have died if the Apple smartwatch had not detected the fall and called for medical assistance. This was because there was no one around when it happened and he wasn’t with his phone inside the bathroom.
Read Also: Apple Watch Series 4 features a larger display and thinner body, price starts at $399
The fall detector detects when an Apple Watch wearer takes a hard fall to the floor. When that is detected, the watch will “tap” the user on the wrist, sound an alarm so passers-by can intervene, and display an SOS button on the device’s screen. If the wearer is conscious, he can then press that button to call for emergency help. If peradventure, as in Mr Toralv’s case, the wearer slipped into unconsciousness, the Apple Watch will call for emergency help after a minute without any movement. Another cool thing is that the feature is automatically enabled for Watch 4 owners who are 65 years or older. For those that are not yet 65, they’ll have to enable the feature manually on the Watch app on your iPhone by selecting “Emergency SOS,” and then the feature can be turned on.
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