Another Apple Watch calls for help after its 81-year-old wearer falls, injuring her head

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Apple Watch Series 6 Apple Watch Se
Apple Watch Series 6 Apple Watch Se (Image credit: Daniel Bader / iMore)

What you need to know

  • An Apple Watch reportedly helped save a woman's life after she fell at home.
  • The Apple Watch called emergency services after the 81-year-old injured her head.

An Apple Watch called for help when its owner fell and injured her head, according to her daughter. The Montgomery County woman required medical attention after the wearable called emergency services.

The story goes that Peggy Reynolds was given the Apple Watch three years ago but never really felt that it did anything more than told the time. Her daughter, Laura Money, says that the 81-year-old enjoyed swapping bands to make the watch match her outfit, but had complained that the lauded fall detection system didn't work — she'd dropped it many times and nothing happened. But everything changed when a real fall happened, local news reports.

Last Sunday, it was helpful beyond its fashion when it called for help after Reynolds fell and sustained a head injury.The watch notified Money that it detected a fall, and it alerted first responders who were already on the scene when Money arrived."At 6:11, I got a notification on my phone from my mom's Apple watch, and it said a hard fall had been detected," she said. "As I open the gate, I find Montgomery County police officers -- two cars, and there are several police officers."

The daughter believes that the Apple Watch may well have saved her mother's life, saying that she is "spending time with her in the hospital" rather than "planning her funeral."

Fall Detection is one of the very best Apple Watch features around and it has no doubt saved countless lives already. Long may that continue.

Fall Detection is supported by Apple Watch Series 4 and later, including the Apple Watch SE.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.