Elain Brown Tech 09.13.2022 23:Sep PM EDT

Apple Shares Video on How Crash Detection Works in iPhones, Apple Watches

Apple released a new video sharing how the newest car crash detection feature works on iPhones and Apple Watches.

The company recently uploaded a video demonstrating to users what and how the newest crash detection feature will benefit a lot of iPhone and Apple Watch users.

Car crash detection is a fairly new feature that the company recently rolled out. When a user's device detects a severe car crash impact and that user becomes unresponsive, the device will automatically call for emergency response services for the user.

The car crash detection feature is enabled by default on all iPhone 14 models, the second-generation Apple Watch SE, the Apple Watch Ultra, and the Apple Watch Series 8.

Apple Crash Detection Feature

The Apple crash detection feature is designed to detect severe car crashes involving different kinds of passenger cars, such as SUVs, sedans, pickup trucks, minivans, and other passenger cars.

The Apple crash detection feature can detect the incident, whether it is a rear-end collision, a rollover, a front impact, or a side impact.

According to MacRumors, Apple detects this crash by using a motion sensor with a high dynamic range gyroscope and high-g accelerometer, GPS, barometer, microphone, and an advanced motion algorithm.

This is activated when a severe car crash is detected. A user's iPhone or Apple Watch will display an alert on their device.

On an iPhone device, if a user cannot see the screen, the iPhone will read the alert for them and will display an emergency call slider on the screen that prompts them to call an emergency service.

On an Apple Watch, a user's device will ring if they have detected a severe impact and send a motion of a tap on the user's wrist. Just like the iPhone, it will also show an emergency call slider on the screen.

If a user's Apple Watch has cellular or Wi-Fi connectivity, the slider will call an emergency service provider.

However, in an event where a user is in a severe crash and has somehow managed to be fine, the user can also dismiss the alert if they want to.

On the other hand, if a user is unresponsive for 20 seconds, their devices will proceed to automatically call for emergency service.

In addition, the Apple crash detection feature can also send a message and share the current location of the user with their emergency contacts, letting them know of the detected car crash.

Apple Users' Privacy on the Crash Detection Feature

Apple is aware that there are numerous users who do not drive and rarely get themselves into situations like a severe car crash. There are also vehicles out there that are equipped with features to notify emergency responders in cases of severe accidents.

Apple also designed this feature for users to be able to easily turn it off. With that, users can, if they want, disable this feature in the settings of their devices.

On the other hand, if a user enables this feature, they can immediately prevent their devices from calling emergency services. Users just need to go to settings, click Emergency SOS, and then turn off Call After Severe Crash.

According to Apple, the sensor data collected from a user's device is used to identify serious car crashes while maintaining the user's data confidentiality. After a severe car accident has been detected, the device processes all of the sensor data that was used to detect it and then discards it.