Apple has highlighted stories from two customers whose lives were saved because they were wearing an Apple Watch.
Each of these customers are still alive today thanks to two built in features – Fall Detection and Low Heart Rate notifications.
The survival stories of Bruce Mildenhall and Lexie Northcott have been shared by Apple to showcase the lifesaving potential of these Apple Watch features.
With Fall Detection, the Apple Watch can detect a hard fall and connect you with emergency services and even share your location if you are unconscious.
If the Apple Watch detects movement, it will wait for you to respond to the alert – and if you do it won’t automatically call the emergency services.
Fall Detection is automatically activated on the Apple Watch if you have entered your age during the setup and are 55 or over.
It’s also possible to just set Fall Detection to work during your workouts.
Apple Watch has a similar feature which can detect if you’ve been in a car crash with the option of automatically calling emergency services.
Apple Watch can also detect low and high heart rates and send a notification if it detects your heart rate above or below a certain level.
In the case of Bruce Mildenhall, he was on a bike ride in the Macedon Ranges in 2021 when he was suddenly knocked off his bike by a kangaroo.
Mildenhall recalls making it to the summit but on his ride down he was knocked unconscious and woke up in an ambulance.
Bruce’s Apple Watch had a cellular connection and a plan which allowed him head out just with his Apple Watch while still being able to stay in touch with calls and to stream your favourite music and podcasts.
And, in the event of an emergency like we saw with Bruce, it also calls emergency services and sends them your precise location.
Bruce was admitted to hospital and spent a week recovering from a dislocated shoulder and broken ribs.
Even though the trail is popular and used by many cyclists, Bruce says if it wasn’t for his Apple Watch he could have been laying out there for some time before he regained consciousness or was discovered by another rider.
Lexie Northcott was given an Apple Watch for her 16th birthday and started receiving daily low heart rate notifications.
She dismissed these because she thought she was young and fit, and it wasn’t anything to worry about.
But the low heart rate notifications continued multiple times a day and it wasn’t until 2020 when, at age 17, she mentioned it to her doctor.
The doctor suggested an ECG to be sure and was surprised discover Lexie was at extreme risk of heart failure and needed heart surgery.
Lexie’s mother Carla says if it wasn’t for her Apple Watch giving her those notifications and checking with the doctor, her daughter might have died.
These are just two of the many stories Apple has shared over the years about the Apple Watch and the features that have saved some customers lives.
Apple Watch has numerous features which can keep an eye on your health to help you avoid any problems rather than not knowing and waiting till it’s too late.
Apple Watch can run an ECG (electrocardiogram) and record your heartbeat and rhythm to check for atrial fibrillation which is a form of irregular heart rhythm.
Users can store this information in the health app on their iPhone or iPad and share it with their doctor.
