How To Turn On Fall Detection On The Apple Watch

When Apple announced the Apple Watch Series 4, one of the new features of the watch they revealed came in the form of fall detection. This was aimed at the elderly who might slip and fall in the toilet and might not have enough strength or might be too hurt to get up. However, as we have seen in multiple examples, it is pretty useful even amongst those who are young.

That being said, the fall detection feature is actually turned off by default when you setup your Apple Watch, that is unless you are above a certain age. So, how do you take advantage of this new feature if you’re below 65 years old? Check out our guide below which will show you how to turn on the feature.

How To Enable The Apple Watch’s Fall Detection

First of all, we should point out that fall detection is only available on the Apple Watch Series 4 or later. Those with an older Apple Watch will be out of luck, but if you have the Series 4, then just follow the steps below.

Turn On Wrist Detection

For Fall Detection to be enabled, you need to turn on Wrist Detection on your Apple Watch.

1. Press the digital crown on your Apple Watch
2. Go to Settings > Passcode
3. Scroll down and turn on Wrist Detection (the toggle will turn green when enabled))

Turn On Fall Detection

1. Launch the Watch app on your iPhone
2. Tap the My Watch tab on the bottom left of the screen
3. Go to Emergency SOS
4. Scroll down until you see Fall Detection
5. Tap to turn it on (the toggle should turn green)

Once Fall Detection has been enabled, what happens when you do take a hard fall is it will prompt you to respond on your watch. You have the option of tapping “I fell, but I’m OK” in which the watch will not do anything. Alternatively, if you’re still conscious but hurt, you can slide the Emergency SOS slider and it will call emergency services on your behalf.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Gadgets
Tags: Apple Watch, Health, Smartwatch, Wearable Tech