iPhone 14 drop detection is a valuable new safety feature, introduced with the iPhone 14 range and the new Apple Watch Ultra, Series 8 and SE 2.
Even though Apple uses brand new hardware, an advanced algorithm, and over a million hours of lock data, false alarms are still possible.
iPhone 14’s fall detection feature caused problems at an amusement park near Cincinnati: Repeated false alerts from iPhones on rides prompted several calls to emergency services.
It turns out that a series of bogus automated emergency calls were triggered by the roller coaster, defeating Apple’s incident detection. Find out here what happens and how to avoid the problem until an update is available.
Apple’s latest safety feature for iPhone and Apple Watch, Crash Detection, uses built-in sensors and mountains of crash data to determine whether or not the user is involved in a traffic accident. Despite the training of the system, it seems that the roller coaster is its weak point.
The Warren County Communications Center has received several calls about detecting iPhone bugs since the iPhone 14 went on sale in September.
According to the communications center, many of them were caused by users of the roller coaster at the King Island amusement park near Cincinnati.
The center provided the Wall Street Journal with several recordings of iPhone follow-up calls caused by devices mistakenly interpreting roller coaster motions and noises as collisions.
The theme park is not the only one with this problem: Six Flags Great America, near Chicago, has also received several warning messages.
At Kings Island, fall detection on the park’s roller coaster was mistakenly activated at least six times.
Dollywood is so aware of the problem that it has posted signs asking visitors not to use the devices on the rides or to turn them off.
Interestingly, some unofficial Apple collision detection tests had trouble activating the safety feature.
However, the roller coaster was found to have the critical characteristics to fool the algorithm that takes into account G-force measurements, pressure variations, GPS/speed, and loud noises.
Correction or solution of the detection of falling of the iPhone 14 by a roller coaster.
Enabling airplane mode is the best way to avoid false positives in roller coaster detection.
Especially if you’re on the go all day, briefly tapping into airplane mode for your iPhone 14 and your new Apple Watch is the most convenient option.
False alarms occur occasionally in everyday life and are probably better avoided than not triggered. However, in the case of roller coasters, these errors could be avoided by placing devices with collision detection capabilities at a ticket booth or with someone who is not on the ride.
However, as Google has been offering its collision detection feature for several years now, it doesn’t seem like there are many cases where roller coasters can trigger it.
Even if the iPhone and Apple Watch alert ten seconds before making an emergency call, it may not be canceled in time.
The park visitor might not know if the ride is going on, or the iPhone might be out of sight for security reasons and not be heard above the shouts.
An Apple spokesperson stated that the technology is safe and that work is being done to improve it. Because Apple is a strong company that cares about its users, we know that it works every day to improve its features and devices. Therefore, we are waiting for further news on the matter.
