Crash detection is a feature on iPhone and Apple Watch that is designed to detect severe car crashes in passenger cars. If you’re in a severe crash and unresponsive, your devices can automatically contact emergency services for you. This feature is available starting from the following iPhone and Apple Watch models: iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro, Apple Watch SC 2nd generation, Apple Watch Series 8, and Apple Watch Ultra.
No setup is required – crash detection is enabled by default on these devices. However, you can also turn it off at any time in your emergency SOS settings. While you’re driving, the motion sensor with a high dynamic range gyroscope and high G accelerometer, GPS, barometer, microphone, and advanced motion algorithms work together in your iPhone or Apple Watch for accurate severe crash detection.
Examples of severe crashes that can be detected are front impacts, side impacts, rear-end collisions, and rollovers. When a severe car crash is detected, you’ll interact with your Apple Watch if you’re wearing one, otherwise, you’ll interact with your iPhone. An alert will display on your device screen for 10 seconds. If you’re still responsive after the crash, you can choose to call emergency services immediately or dismiss the alert if you don’t need to contact them.
If you’re unresponsive and don’t make a choice after 10 seconds, your device will start a 10-second countdown. After the countdown ends, emergency services will be contacted, and an audio message will play on a loop with five seconds of silence between each replay, relaying your estimated location with latitude and longitude, and search radius both to emergency services and through the device speaker.
After the first time the message plays, all other replays will have a reduced volume to allow you to speak to emergency services if needed. This message will continue to repeat until you tap the stop recorded message button or the call ends. After the call completes, if you have emergency contacts set up on your device, they will be notified of the crash after a 10-second countdown, or you can tap stop before the countdown ends.
If you configured medical ID, a slider will appear on your lock screen to quickly access that information. And that’s how crash detection on your iPhone or Apple Watch can detect if you’ve been in a severe car crash and automatically contact emergency services.