It looks like the Apple automatically enables fall detection if your entered date of birth says you are 55 or older.
I have been shopping, and would like for advice from owners about the best choice for a band type for the Apple watch 8 , please.
I tried Road ID, but it only works if you move further than X feet. I don’t remember how far -maybe 100 feet(?) Because I ride in a ring, it was always alerting me to the fact that I hadn’t moved far enough, so it became useless very quickly. It’s fine for trail riding, but ring riding didn’t work out for me. YMMV
Oh strange, I’ve always used mine in the ring with no issues. Even an indoor. But, I haven’t used the app in about 2 years since I got my Apple Watch. So maybe they changed the coding.
Originally it was marketed towards all outdoor sports; soccer, running, biking, figure skating, etc. but maybe they are focusing more on just road biking now.
Based on pictures I am using a ‘sport velcro loop’ band. I like it because if it ever comes un-stuck, it can’t just fall off. The band loops back onto itself so it would take some doing to ever come off your wrist accidentally. My sample size is this one band however. It works, I haven’t changed it.
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I’ve got an Apple Watch 5, so one of the earlier models with fall detection. It’s hit and miss, newer models may be better. I’ve had it go off when whacking my arm into something. It didn’t go off when my 5yo knocked me over on the ground, and in that instance it broke my foot in 3 places. I had my phone on me, and luckily dad was home and within earshot (and I’ve got a good yell!). He’d probably have noticed the horses galloping up the driveway anyway, but had I been knocked unconscious, the watch wouldn’t have done it’s job.
I’ve come off four times I can recall in the last year or two. I think it went off on a couple of occasions, but not the others (in fairness, the ones it didn’t were pretty soft falls, almost more of a I let go and dropped to the ground when I realised I wasn’t staying on). However, apple devices do have the “find me” feature built in so at least your location can be tracked. Especially useful if trail riding.
Doesn’t the Apple watch hard fall alert require a motionless period with no input from you after the fall to send the alarm?
I do not own one yet but I am shopping and the posted information regarding the hard fall feature is confusing.
I’ve had my Apple SE watch for only 2 days now and still don’t have everything set up, but yes…it does give you one minute to respond to the :fall detection’ alarm.
If you tap “I’m OK” the alarm shuts off and it then asks if you actually fell.
As I said…still trying to figure it all out, but today when I was riding my pony it asked if I was running. I had no idea how to say no and by chance I must have told that ‘yes’ in fact I was running. And then the fall alarm went off when I quickly raised my arm to give pony a generous ‘Good boy’ pat on his neck. And again when I lifted my hand up to switch the whip. I ‘think’ the fact that it ‘thought’ that I was running and the quick raising of my arms indicated a fall? I had zero issues with it going off when I dismounted nor any issues when I rode my horse. I finally figured out how to shut off the ‘running’ app…I’m sure it must think I’m some kind of marathon runner 
Obviously I need to get my grandkids to show me how to set it all up properly…
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I used RoadID for years, and it works well, but it is no longer free. The cost is $2.99 monthly or $29.99 yearly. I still have it and use it while I am out walking/ hiking.
I did go to Equilab for riding, which is $79.99 yearly, but I get a lot of technical information that is useful for conditioning my horses plus has the benefit of notifying someone if I stop moving.
I tried Equilab for a year but the tracking never worked. The app had a lot of glitches and so I stopped paying for the extra features.
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Just wanted to add that I was knocked flying last week, very heavy landing - just like a horse fall with accompanying bruising and yet again (as per my previous post) my new Apple Watch did NOT register that I’d had a fall
As it was late at night and I was on my own, blinded in one eye with severe gashing to my face and my glasses missing and I spent all the next day in hospital I really could have done with it working.
This has been my trainer’s experience with her Apple watch. She was yeeted off a couple of horses in the course of a year, one time significantly enough to leave a massive hematoma that took a year to go away, and the fall detection never went off. It did go off when she was…patting her horse, laughing, and telling a joke. YMMV.
when it detects a fall, you get a unique sound and haptic on your wrist. If you do not reply to the prompts (there are two screens), it sends the alert.
