Fall emergency alert with smartwatch. Galaxy watch 4.

[Satan’s little helper]

The final insult. (For me, from samsung.) just sat down on my bed. (Granted heavy.)though still a light bloke. Watch kicked off about an “SOS fall” alert? I am nowhere on the vulnerable register. Anyone had this till it’s actually needed? I’m not on the floor. But I am just about to hit the sack.

 

[Minotaur]

You can set if, when, and who it alerts.

Maybe also check it doesn't automatically dial 999, which some do also.

I have mine set to alert (with a 10 sec delay, so I can cancel it, just in case, I accidentally set it off) only if I have a hard fall, mine will then alert all my children, although, none actually live within 2hrs of me.

So, even if I did have a hard fall, the first thing they'd do is try and text me....lol

 

[Satan’s little helper]

You can set if, when, and who it alerts.

Maybe also check it doesn't automatically dial 999, which some do also.

I have mine set to alert (with a 10 sec delay, so I can cancel it, just in case, I accidentally set it off) only if I have a hard fall, mine will then alert all my children, although, none actually live within 2hrs of me.

So, even if I did have a hard fall, the first thing they'd do is try and text me....lol

I didn’t set the thing up for fall alerts. I’m not in the vulnerable category. Literally dumped my arse on the edge of the bed whilst talking to my wife & the watch went into emergency mode? The bizarre thing is I do activities that are even more likely to trigger it, & nothing has happened. Funny, as I was just typing this message. Watch rattled with a message prompt saying “wearer may need medical help. Add info.” All I did so far was wake & get out of bed? Lol, a little concerned it’s going to trigger if I hit a pot hole whilst driving.

 

[Minotaur]

I didn’t set the thing up for fall alerts. I’m not in the vulnerable category. Literally dumped my arse on the edge of the bed whilst talking to my wife & the watch went into emergency mode? The bizarre thing is I do activities that are even more likely to trigger it, & nothing has happened. Funny, as I was just typing this message. Watch rattled with a message prompt saying “wearer may need medical help. Add info.” All I did so far was wake & get out of bed? Lol, a little concerned it’s going to trigger if I hit a pot hole whilst driving.

Oh, That doesn't sound good, I believe the settings are within the phone emergency settings, might be worth a quick look.

 

[Satan’s little helper]

Oh, That doesn't sound good, I believe the settings are within the phone emergency settings, might be worth a quick look.

I appreciate your help. I managed to turn it off in the watch settings. Hadn’t had the watch long. Just a few months? Must have been part of factory settings? I’d changed other functions to save power. It is strange that last night it tried to get my phone to dial the default 999? (As I’m in the UK.) For literally sitting on my bed. A soft landing.

 

[mashedupmatt]

I'll have to watch that (pardon the pun) - I have the same one and had no idea it had that function!

 

[Minotaur]

I'll have to watch that (pardon the pun) - I have the same one and had no idea it had that function!

I was setting mine up the other day, and it decided to send an alert to all my children. So definitely something to watch.

 

[Satan’s little helper]

I'll have to watch that (pardon the pun) - I have the same one and had no idea it had that function!

Yep it does. But I recently found out mine was switched on. There’s also a neat function with the camera where “selfies” can be taken with the front lens on the phone when you prop it up & you can get in shot using the watch screen relaying the image.& click the shutter?

 

[mashedupmatt]

It runs out of battery power in no time so happily haven't had this happen! Thanks for the intel though

 

[Satan’s little helper]

It runs out of battery power in no time so happily haven't had this happen! Thanks for the intel though

I get on average 36 (maybe 40) hours out of it. (Without “always on display.”) Charging time isn’t so bad. If you have cordless charging on the back of the phone it can share juice with the watch. (My phone can.) But that is a slow re-charge.

 

[mashedupmatt]

Charging time is great but when I'm umpiring hockey I use an app Matchgear as well as GPS tracking and its terrible but on the whole very happy with it

 

[Minotaur]

I generally get about 40hrs out of a charge also, sharing power isn't as great as previous watches due to the strap curve (unless it's just my choice of strap?), I've also noticed it's a 'PITA', getting the placement correct.

 

[Satan’s little helper]

I generally get about 40hrs out of a charge also, sharing power isn't as great as previous watches due to the strap curve (unless it's just my choice of strap?), I've also noticed it's a 'PITA', getting the placement correct.

I had to replace the original strap after I fell through loft conversion tearing it as I steadied my decent. (Avoided head trauma. Left arm got a little skagged.) when I was experimenting with the power share. It was easier to buckle the strap in reverse across the face of the watch, to get that “curve” out the way that was lifting the watch from the phone? lol, it didn’t trigger the alarm when I actually did take a fall. But I did land on my feet.

 

[SimonP]

I wonder if the fall detection algorithm uses an acceleration threshold followed by a lack of movement, if so make you sure you wiggle your arm while aiming at the potholes! 😉

I've not read this, but here is a review paper fwiw (I could certainly be tempted to read it!): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10255727/

I'm amused that my Garmin watch often misclassifies my bicycle rides as driving a car (I'm not going very fast, except for downhill) and even more strangely this morning it decided my drive to drop my youngest at school was a bicycle ride (I would be rather impressed if I could reach and maintain 70mph, and perhaps the rest, on my bike!) Algorithms are imperfect, but generally do a fairly decent job.

 

[Satan’s little helper]

I wonder if the fall detection algorithm uses an acceleration threshold followed by a lack of movement, if so make you sure you wiggle your arm while aiming at the potholes! 😉

I've not read this, but here is a review paper fwiw (I could certainly be tempted to read it!): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10255727/

I'm amused that my Garmin watch often misclassifies my bicycle rides as driving a car (I'm not going very fast, except for downhill) and even more strangely this morning it decided my drive to drop my youngest at school was a bicycle ride (I would be rather impressed if I could reach and maintain 70mph, and perhaps the rest, on my bike!) Algorithms are imperfect, but generally do a fairly decent job.

I haven gone into the activities mode on my watch. But there is one for cycling?
Trust me, most cyclists can move faster than city/town/urban drivers. Strangely, I saw a prank YouTube skit where a guy was riding a “penny farthing” through London. He was clocked at doing 24mph by his mate? It was basically highlighting very old speed limit laws for these “new fangled contraptions.” From memory, the speed limit was 4mph? The challenge was to break old laws like “drunk in charge of a cow.” & washing a cow in the street. Quite funny with the guy riding past a bunch of coppers looking on bemused as he sang “bad boys, bad boys, what you gonna do when they come for you.”

 

[SimonP]

On my Garmin there is, I don't know about the Galaxy watch, though I'd be surprised if there weren't assuming it can auto-detect other activities.

Definitely faster than rush hour traffic and more pleasurable, though with the recent rain not sure how much more pleasurable.

I realise now that it's actually my Garmin that sometimes misclassifying driving as riding a bike (which I guess is down to movements of the watch, rather than GPS data, though it can start the GPS automatically for some activities), it's Google that is misclassifying bike rides as driving - though that may be down to the 75kph downhill sections (it's hilly around here!)