The latest iPhones and Apple watches automatically call emergency services when triggered by movements typically associated with accidents. False alerts on these devices have been causing emergency service phones to ring unnecessarily, particularly in the canton of Valais, reported RTS.
The false alerts are being caused by the devices confusing skiing with car crash movements. In snowy Valais, emergency services have been swamped with false alerts.
The new feature, which was introduced on the iPhone 14 and version 8 of the Apple watch, automatically calls emergency services when it senses movements associated with physical shock. A call is automatically made and a robotic voice message states that the individual owning the device has been in a serious car accident. The feature is active by default.
Over the last few months, these robotic calls have overloaded the call centres of emergency services. Stopping quickly on skis can be enough to trigger an emergency call. The challenge for call centre operators is not knowing whether the call is false or real.
Since the beginning of January 2023 emergency services in Valais have received 65 such calls, roughly 2 a day. Fortunately, they were all false alerts, said a spokesperson from the cantonal police in Valais.
When the apple devices are triggered, the user has 20 seconds to cancel it, which, in the case of a phone, isn’t always enough time to remove gloves, unzip pockets and push cancel.
According to Apple, an update released at the end of last year aimed to reduce the number of false alerts. However, the bug persists. According to Valais Police, to date, the devices have not made a call for a real emergency, and the police fear the problem will persist through the mountain biking season.
Without an effective fix, Aesop’s fable could soon qualify for an update to: The Boy with an iPhone 14 Who Cried Wolf.
More on this:
RTS article (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
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