Apple has recently rolled out the WatchOS 4 and iOS 11 OS. These updates include the “Emergency SOS” feature. Pressing the crown button sends Apple Watch emergency SOS alerts. Its purpose is to help a user when he’s either in danger or in an emergency and needs help. The feature, of course, is life-saving.
However, for the last few days, Apple Watches has been accused of accidentally sending emergency SOS alerts to the police on its own. It’s noticed to happen more frequently when it is worn or used in the wrong way.
The Verge, in their Sunday edition, has written about such an incident,“If you sleep on your Apple Watch the wrong way, you might get a wake-up call from the police.”
That’s what happened to Jason Rowley, who tweeted about the incident earlier this week. It’s a problem for iPhones, too, since the same alert can be triggered through the side button. Using his watch as a sleep tracker, he ended up holding the crown button to trigger an emergency call to the police, who showed up in his bedroom at 1 a.m.”
The interesting part was that the man later said that the behavior of the police was friendly and helpful, and the officer seemed to be quite “accustomed to WatchOS misdials”.
Similar Apple Watch misdial accusations from many more Apple users can easily be found on Twitter.
Apple Watch really needs a ‘I’m changing bands please don’t trigger emergency SOS or password wipe’ mode. – Colin Weir
George Edmunds didn’t seem very happy either while writing, “Pissed off getting home last night and somehow pressed emergency SOS on my phone and fell asleep woke up to loads of calls my sister thought I fell in the snow and was dying.”
Any sort of official announcement is yet to be heard from Apple.
