It is clear that the accident detection of the new iPhone 14 is very useful. More than anything, because it can save more lives than we can imagine. And it is that, you never know when a function of these characteristics will be of great help to us. However, its detection needs some polishing.
More than anything, because recently, it has been possible to demonstrate how this accident detector, which is capable of knowing if there has been a car accident, confuses a traffic emergency with… a roller coaster. As you read. And this is exactly what has happened to a user with his newly released iPhone 14 Pro.
Fake emergency call
This new functionality of Apple is developed so that, at the time of a traffic accident, the device of the firm of the bitten apple can automatically call the emergency services. In this way, if the user cannot pick up the smartphone, the device itself will notify of the emergency. Even, it is also available on the Apple Watch.
However, it is not as effective as it seems. Basically, because in recent weeks a series of emergency calls have been verified that, in reality, were not. And not because of the users themselves, but because of the accident detection of the iPhone and Apple Watch .
Specifically, a few days ago, although the story has recently become known, a user went to enjoy a Sunday with his family at an amusement park. On this occasion, this 39-year-old man kept his iPhone 14 Pro in his fanny pack. But, the real inconvenience came when he rode a roller coaster that managed to spin at more than 80 kilometers per hour and reached up to 33 meters high.
At the end of the roller coaster experience, he watched as the phone’s lock screen was full of missed calls and voicemails to check if he was really okay. So his crash detector believed he had been in an accident when in fact he was on a roller coaster .
Apple has to improve its accident detector
The worst of all is that it is not the first time something similar has happened. Well, there are many calls made to emergencies by Apple devices themselves, believing that their users had suffered some kind of traffic accident . When, in reality, it was quite the opposite.
For example, there are users who have claimed that, while driving, if their phones were accidentally dropped, the iPhone itself would call 911 for emergencies. When nothing had happened . And of course, even if the countdown is on, if the user doesn’t realize it, they transmit a message to 911 and send the location so they can send help. In addition to that it will notify the contacts, who are set as emergency contacts, with a text message.
In any case, an Apple spokesperson has already commented that this detection function has been tested in real situations, but that they will continue to improve it over time in order to minimize false positives .