One of the most important novelties of the iPhone 14 is its ability to alert the authorities when the phone detects that the user has suffered an accident and, as a consequence, alerts the authorities. However, the feature has a problem: It’s dialing 911 when people are enjoying a roller coaster adventure.
According to an , this feature called Crash Detection, which is also available in the latest versions of Apple Watch, has sent the authorities to amusement parks on several occasions, mistaking the calls for real emergencies.
The relevance of these false positives in emergency calls has been so relevant that some amusement parks in the United States are already placing notices where they mention that they do not recommend carrying them because they can activate the function by mistake.
What is Crash Detection and how does it work?
This is one of the most relevant functions that Apple presented at the event where it showed its new range of iPhone and Apple Watch, which are equipped with a high-end gyroscope and accelerometer trained to detect the impact of a car accident.
When the devices become aware of this problem, they display an alert and call the emergency services, unless the person dismisses the call within 20 seconds.
In addition to playing an audio message to alert authorities, it also has the ability to send your location to deliver more details so help can arrive as quickly as possible.
An Apple spokesman told the US newspaper that the algorithms were validated using more than a million hours of crash data during driving tests and actual crash tests in the laboratory.
The function, the source indicated, “is extremely accurate when it comes to detecting severe crashes”, in addition to having been optimized so that users had the necessary help and false positives were minimized. “Apple will continue to improve it over time,” he announced.
Despite its questionable results in amusement parks, the crash detection feature has had some favorable examples. Earlier this month in Nebraska, USA, a person’s iPhone automatically alerted rescuers after a crash.
How to disable the feature while in an amusement park?
The most recommended way to avoid these calls while on a roller coaster ride is to store your phone in your backpack and leave it out of the experience for calls to be made.
The other option is to disable the tool entirely, but that would exclude times when it might be needed, so experts recommend turning on airplane mode during those experiences so that no calls can be made.
