Phones Are Calling Emergency Services To Theme Parks For A Crazy Reason
The Apple iPhone is calling emergency services through its accident detection sensors when users are riding on roller coasters
This article is more than 2 years old
The new iPhone 14 comes with incredible capabilities, including motion sensors that can detect when you’ve been in a car crash. Unfortunately, the sudden jolts on roller coasters can also trigger this function. Emergency services have been mistakenly called to theme parks around the country because of this reactive feature.
Using internal gyroscopes and state-of-the-art sensors, the iPhone 14 will call emergency services if you get into a severe accident. If the function is activated mistakenly, users have ten seconds to deactivate the service and stop the responders from coming to their location. But for those on theme park rides, you won’t be able to cancel the function, which is why this problem has occurred repeatedly.
Tech Radar, a popular online news source that covers recent technology-related stories, reached out to Apple about what the company plans to do with the function’s failures. Apple has not commented on the incidents nor released statements about how they will change the sensors’ activation mishaps. For now, users will have to disable the emergency-service function before they go on any wild rides.
The positive side of this story is that the iPhone 14’s crash detection feature works incredibly swiftly. The downside of its functionality is how responsive it is, detecting issues from any frantic shift, including roller coaster rides. If emergency services are repeatedly contacted by iPhone users that aren’t in peril, it could create distrust from first responders who receive messages from Apple’s crash detection function.
If you have a new iPhone or Apple Watch, it’s imperative to turn off crash detection before enjoying a day at the theme park. If you have an Apple Watch 8, Ultra, or SE 2, you’ll need to deactivate the function through your paired iPhone. Locate the Watch app on your smartphone and click on the My Watch Tab; under the My Watch tab, you’ll find the Emergency SOS category, where you’ll be able to disable the crash detection service.
For iPhone 14 users, you’ll be able to quickly turn off the emergency-service contact ability by heading over to the Settings function. You’ll also find an Emergency SOS tab with all the notification settings for the motion-activation sensors. Turn the toggle for the Call After Severe Crash section to the off stage, and you’ll be ready to ride roller coasters without any accidental calls.
Though it’s pretty simple to disable the crash detection service, many users also worry that they’ll forget to turn the function on after they exit the theme park. The function won’t work correctly if somebody deactivates the service and then gets into a severe crash. Some suggest that Apple impose a “do not disturb” setting that is time-based, only allowing the sensors’ deactivation for a set number of hours.
Though loyal Apple users have ample ideas on changing the crash detection function to make it more helpful, the company has yet to decide what strategy it’ll take to improve the situation. Hopefully, more people will be aware of the Emergency SOS inclusion on their iPhone 14s and Apple Watches and will disable the function according to their thrilling activities.
