Iphone 14 | Accident detection of the iPhone 14 still error-prone: skiers with false alarm | News | apple iphone

One of the major innovations of the iPhone 14 and the Apple Watch SE of the second generation, Ultra and Series 8 is “Crash Detection”: The sensors built into the devices are able to detect car accidents and automatically contact the emergency services after a countdown. In the iPhone and Apple Watch series mentioned above, this feature is activated by default – and has already caused irritation: Accident detection has already reacted to rollercoaster rides and caused a few false alarms. Apple promised improvement and made optimizations that are included in iOS 16.1.2. However, problems of this type continue to appear.

Supposed emergency calls pool resources
Apple points out that not all car accidents can be detected – but sometimes the devices also sound the alarm in situations in which the user is not in the vehicle at all. So reported The Colorado Sun from an accumulated number of false alarms: In four ski areas, the emergency call centers received a total of 71 calls from iPhones and Apple Watches – not a single actual emergency was among them. For the rescue workers, the phenomenon represents more than just an inconvenience: the supposed emergency calls would take up the resources that are missing in real emergencies. Pitkin County received about 15 to 20 calls a day caused by the iPhone 14’s accident detection. Calls back from the emergency call centers often went unanswered: the device is often in the user’s pocket, who often does not even notice that the function has been activated.

Apple is working on a solution to the problem
According to the article, iOS 16.1.2 did little to solve this problem. Recently, Canadian rescue helicopter pilots complained about unnecessary missions: For example, an iPhone that was in the glove compartment of a snowmobile set in motion a rescue chain without an accident having occurred. According to The Colorado Sun, responsible sheriffs have already contacted Apple: The group is aware of the problem and is working on a solution.