The Apple Watch has once again been credited with saving people’s lives. This time, Apple’s SOS alert was activated after a group of skiers fell 1,000 feet near Steven’s Pass in Washington state. Fox Weather (via AppleInsider) has shared the news. Although the accident happened last week, the King County Sheriff’s Office only recently released footage of the Air Support Unit rescue.
According to the publication, the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office received an Apple Watch SOS alert from a backcountry skier on Wednesday. The alert informed the County that an unidentified skier had fallen about 1,000 feet and sustained a leg injury, and the Air Support Unit responded quickly.
The footage shows the moment the rescue helicopter approaches the area, and the skier’s friend can be seen waving to get the rescuers’ attention. While it’s unclear which Apple Watch the skier had, the fallen detection is available with devices as old as the 2018 Apple Watch Series 4.
Over the years, Apple has improved falling detection with other technologies, including Crash Detection. With newer sensors, the watch has become even more accurate in detecting whether heart rates are high or low, whether you had a fall, or whether your car crashed. It can even give you insights about possible heart problems, such as a stroke or, most recently if you might have sleep apnea.
Over the years, BGR reported several stories about the Apple Watch saving someone’s life. Apple also usually highlights the benefits of wearing an Apple Watch daily through ads and when it’s about to release new models.
That said, Fall Detection usually detects and calls the emergency automatically. You can also manually use Apple Watch SOS alerts by following the steps below:
- Press and hold your watch’s side button (the button below the Digital Crown) until the Emergency Call slider appears. On Apple Watch Ultra models, you can also press and hold the Action button.
- Drag the Emergency Call slider to start the call immediately. Or you can keep holding the side button; after a countdown, your watch calls emergency services automatically.
