Apple Shares Apple Watch SOS Success Story - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple Shares Apple Watch SOS Success Story

Apple today highlighted the SOS feature in the Apple Watch, publishing a short video featuring a man named Phil, who crashed while mountain biking.


Phil was biking with his two young children when he had an accident and was knocked unconscious. His Apple Watch detected the fall, calling emergency services and alerting his wife.

He ended up breaking his collarbone and seven ribs, but was able to receive help quickly because his watch gave emergency services his location. Phil was in the hospital for a week, and at the end of the video, he said "Just really glad that I had my Apple Watch on."

The Apple Watch is able to detect serious falls and vehicle crashes, getting help when the wearer is unconscious or unable to get help on their own. It calls emergency services automatically, and alerts a person's emergency contacts.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch 11

Popular Stories

Surprise and Shine Live Coverage Article

Apple Event Live Blog: iPhone Duo, iPhone 18 Pro, and More Expected

Wednesday September 9, 2026 9:10 am PDT by
Apple's "Surprise and Shine" event kicks off today at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, where we're expecting to see the foldable iPhone Duo, the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 models, new AirPods 5 earphones, and perhaps some other announcements. Apple is providing a live video stream on its website, on YouTube, and in the company's TV app across various platforms. We...
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium

New Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 Features Revealed

Sunday August 30, 2026 7:54 am PDT by
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today further outlined what to expect from the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 set to be unveiled on September 9. While it was initially rumored that Touch ID may be coming to the Apple Watch this year, Gurman reiterated that he does not expect the Series 12 or Ultra 4 to have any major design changes compared to the current Series 11 and Ultra 3 models. ...
apple surprise and shine event

Apple Event Today: iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo Cheat Sheet

Tuesday September 8, 2026 10:24 am PDT by
Apple's biggest event of the year is almost here, and all eyes are on Cupertino. With the first foldable iPhone expected to headline Apple's "Surprise and Shine" event on Wednesday, September 9, at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, the rumor mill has been running full throttle, fuelled by the biggest single design change in the life of the iPhone. To get you up to speed, here's a quick reference...

Top Rated Comments

vertsix Avatar
7 weeks ago
Terrific. Let me share mine.



Attachment Image
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
7 weeks ago
I crashed last month when road cycling. The watch triggered the fall alert which was great - I was ok so could cancel it.

However I was then taunted by this notification whilst I waited on my wife coming to collect me:



Attachment Image
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
decimortis Avatar
7 weeks ago
I had a 50ft fall a year ago and my Apple Watch immediately stepped in to get me assistance. It alerted my wife, sister, and mother and then called 911 on my behalf because I was unable to move my body or retrieve my phone from my pocket. Thankfully, I survived.
Of course, I was at Canada’s Wonderland on Leviathan, and hadn’t realized any of this had happened until the panicked call from my mother.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jz0309 Avatar
7 weeks ago

i love these stories. the one with the overweight guy running on a rainy day was my all time favourite
Wish I had an AW back in 2013 when I broke my femur mountain biking, but it came only 2 years later... so I can totally relate.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
7 weeks ago
When I first got my watch it was a little sensitive and asked if I had fallen when I used a hammer and a few other times. It was no big deal and it seemed to learn quickly enough. But since 26.5 now it goes off all the time. I’m hoping it will learn. It went off a couple days ago when I swatted a mosquito.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jz0309 Avatar
7 weeks ago

Not saying fall and accident detection is a bad feature. But it did cause a major panic in our family when it notified everyone of an accident and almost notified emergency services a couple of weeks ago. What actually happened was that the phone fell maybe 50 cm from the center console while driving. Made me wonder how accurate the feature is and how many false alarms it triggers.
Never triggered it on an iPhone but the watch has a "countdown" before it calls emergency services and notifies of 10 or 15 seconds, you can tap "I did fall but I'm ok" or "false alarm" or something like that.
Me, I'd rather get a false alarm than missing a real incident, but that's just me.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)