Explained: Apple iPhone 14 Car Crash detection feature and how it works – Times of India

Apple the new iPhone 14 series, Apple Watch Series 8 and AirPods Pro 2 at the ‘Far Away’ event last month. The Cupertino-based tech giant included a new feature called Crash Detection in the latest iPhones and Apple Watch models. As the name suggests, this feature contacts emergency response services and even notifies emergency contacts when it detects that the user has suffered a car accident.
Recently, a YouTuber tried testing this feature twice by strapping a new iPhone to the headrest of the passenger seat of a sedan and crashed the car using a remote control and it seemed to work. However, a new report claims that this feature can be falsely triggered during roller-coaster rides. Here we explain how Apple’s Car Crash detection works.
What is Apple’s Car Crash Detection feature
Apple explains that the Crash Detection feature is designed to detect “severe car crashes” which include front-impact, side-impact, rear-end collisions and rollovers. This feature works with all types of cars including sedans, minivans, SUVs, pickup trucks and other passenger cars.
The Car Crash Detection feature works with all Apple iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models along with Apple Watch Series 8, Apple Watch SE 2 and the Apple Watch Ultra. This feature uses a cellular or Wi-Fi connection from these devices to make emergency calls in such scenarios.

How does Car Crash Detection work
Whenever the feature detects a severe car crash, it sounds an alarm and displays an alert on iPhone or Apple Watch that says, “It looks like you have been in a crash.” If users can’t see their iPhone screen after the crash, the device will read out the alert and will display an Emergency Call slider to call emergency services.
Meanwhile, in crash situations, if users only have the Apple Watch, it will also check in with them with taps and chimes and will also display the same slider on its screen. However, it is important to note that if users have access to both their iPhone and Apple Watch during the crash, the Emergency Call slider appears only on the smartwatch and the call audio will also play from the wearable.
Here, users can either choose to call the emergency services or dismiss the alert. If the user remains unresponsive for over 20 seconds, the Apple device will automatically alert the emergency services. Moreover, the device will also send a message to share the crash location with emergency contacts, if the user has added any. Apple devices will also display another slider for users who have set their Medical IDs. This will help emergency responders to access the user’s medical information.
The Crash Detection feature comes enabled as a default setting on supported Apple devices. But users have to set up their Medical ID and emergency contacts in the Health app to utilise the feature to its full potential. Additionally, users also need to turn on the “Location Services for Emergency SOS” option to share their location with emergency contacts. Users can also turn off this feature on both iPhone and Apple Watch.

Apple has mentioned that all sensor data used to process a car crash is discarded after the detection unless users want to share the data with the company to improve the feature. The tech giant has explained that the feature uses your iPhone microphone to detect loud sound levels and other characteristics of crashes. If users agree to share their data the detected sound levels are shared with Apple. However, raw audio is never collected or stored by the company
In such cases, when a severe car crash is detected, the device will not only contact the emergency services but will also share your location as latitude and longitude coordinates, even if Location Services is disabled. Moreover, Apple also mentions that emergency service calls in some countries or regions might require manual input.