iPhones call without being asked: That’s behind it

Apple’s current cell phone generation sometimes triggers a false alarm and calls the emergency call center without being asked. What should actually be a pretty cool security feature of the iPhone 14 turns out to be a small problem in the winter sports area of ​​all places.

At the presentation of the iPhone 14 and the Apple Watch Series SE, 8 and Ultra, the novel accident detection in focus. Apple’s smartphones and smart watches recognize when the user is involved in a car accident and can then automatically make an emergency call after a few seconds, provided this message is not quickly canceled by the uninjured user.

With the iPhone 14 on skis: Warning, wrong connection

However, the iPhones and smartwatches sometimes trigger false alarms. These days, this is particularly noticeable, because already one sporty skiing can trigger the feature. Messages about this have just come from Summit County in Utah (source: KSL via MacRumors).

“We’re receiving a call stating that the owner of this Apple Watch or this iPhone has either been in a serious accident or was involved in a car accident,” Suzie Butterfield, director of the Summit County Dispatch Center, told news site KSL.

All iPhone 14 models have the new accident detection:

At the moment, between 3 and 5 such emergency calls have been received every day accidentally triggered became. The users don’t even notice this at first, are then surprised when the emergency call center calls them back and only confirm a normal skiing trip. At present, this is only a minor concern for those in charge as the feature could come in handy in an actual emergency situation. Therefore, Suzie Butterfield does not recommend disabling them either. She says, “We don’t mind taking this call because if something really does happen, we want to be able to get through to you.”

The feature is also integrated in all new Apple Watches:

Apple released the update to iOS 16.1.2 this week

Meanwhile, Apple released the update to iOS 16.1.2 this week. Interesting to learn, according to Apple, the iOS update for the iPhones also includes “Accident detection optimizations on the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models”. Apple doesn’t say more about it.

But it stands to reason that any false alarms should be reduced. It was previously known that the crash detection feature can also be triggered when riding roller coasters and during other intense activities. It remains unclear whether the update will also make it easier to distinguish between skiing and actual accidents. But for security reasons alone, installing the update is recommended for every iPhone user.