The new Apple Watch Series 4 has a new Fall Detection feature. If someone wearing the latest version of the timepiece takes a particularly hard fall while wearing it, they will hear an alarm, feel a tap on the wrist and get to choose from one of three options: Contact Emergency Services, Dismiss the alarm because they fell but are okay, or Dismiss the alarm because they didn't fall.

If an Apple Watch Series 4 wearer falls, but doesn't move for a minute, a 15 second countdown commences. After that time expires, the watch sounds an alarm so loud that people standing around will be able to hear it. And a message will be sent out to the user's emergency contacts as determined by his/her Medical ID account, telling them that this person that they know has suffered a hard fall. Emergency Services is then called.

If the watch does determine that the person who fell is moving, Emergency Services is not automatically called. Instead, to call for help, the Apple Watch user will need to drag the red SOS button from the left to the right of the screen. And here is something that Apple doesn't reveal. Unless a new Apple Watch Series 4 user lists his/her age as 65 or older when setting up the Watch or the Medical ID account on the iOS Health app, the Fall Detector feature is disabled by default. This makes sense since people are more apt to fall when they're 65 or older.

If you're under 65 but want the Fall Detector activated, you can enable the feature by opening the Apple Watch app on an iPhone and going to My Watch > Tap Emergency SOS > Turn Fall Detection on. And like the old commercial goes, if you've fallen and can't get up, at least you can have your Apple Watch Series 4 summon help for you and alert your emergency contacts.

If you need more information on this feature, check out Apple Support by clicking on the sourcelink below.

source: AppleSupport