- Apple Watch features life-saving features including fall detection
- Tim Cook has revealed it once saved his own father’s life
- Emergency responders were alerted and had to break down a door to rescue him
Given the myriad of potentially life-saving features on the best Apple Watches, CEO Tim Cook is no stranger to stories about how the smartwatch has literally saved the lives of its wearers.
However, on a recent podcast appearance, Cook revealed how the Apple Watch saved the life of his own father, who was left unconscious after a fall.
Cook appeared on the latest episode of Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware. During the podcast, the trio discussed Cook’s morning routine, the hype about Apple’s Formula 1 film, and how many emails the CEO receives each day.
Cook revealed that he gets “an extraordinary amount of outreach from customers” including stories of “how the Apple Watch saved their life.”
When asked if he’d ever had his own medical alert on his Apple Watch, Cook responded that he hadn’t, but revealed how his late father once fell in his home and was saved by emergency responders thanks to an alert from his Apple Watch.
Cook’s most personal Apple Watch rescue story
“I haven’t, but my father, when he was alive, he fell in the house and he was living alone,” he told the hosts.
Cook explained how the Apple Watch’s Fall Detection feature uses the accelerometer to detect a fall, and can alert both emergency contacts and emergency services, before explaining what happened in the case of his father.
“And in this case, it notified emergency services. And they came out to the house. He didn’t respond to the door. And so they kicked the door down… And it was a good thing they did because he was not conscious at the time,” he said.
Cook revealed that his father, who survived the episode but has since passed away, wasn’t immediately enamored by the fact that his son’s device had saved his life.
Asked what his father thought about the episode, Cook responded jokingly “No, he was focused on the door, to be honest!”
Other Apple Watch health features that can save lives include the crash-detection feature, as well as an ECG for catching atrial fibrillation. We even have our own story about how the simple high-heart-rate alert saved a life by detecting the early signs of a pulmonary embolism.
Many of these features are available on cheaper models like the Apple Watch Series 10 and even the Apple Watch SE 2, so you don’t need the best Apple Watch to reap the benefits.
Later this year the company is expected to unveil the new Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Series 11, complete with detection for high blood pressure for the first time.