iPhone Crash Detection set off by Dancing at Music Festival

iPhone Crash Detection set off by Dancing at Music Festival

It's easy to get lost in the moment at a music festival's epic headlining set. But if you're an iPhone 14 user, you might want to disable your phone's collision detection feature before you dance frenetically to your favorite artists. Because the device might mistake your best moves for a car crash.

Earlier this month, more than 80,000 people descended on Coffee County, Tennessee, for the annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. And during the four-day event, WKRN reported that local authorities experienced more than five times the usual number of fake 911 calls (as reported by Apple Insider)

While an increase in calls during a major event like Bonnaroo should be expected, the influx of unnecessary calls ultimately related to the latest iPhone crash detection feature. To combat this, an alert was sent to devices in the area asking them to temporarily turn off the crash detection feature. According to Scott LeDuc, director of the Coffee County 911 Communications Center, this reduced the number of false calls.

AppleInsider also reports that Apple itself offered to visit the county to offer assistance, but a solution to the problem was eventually found over the phone, as it was assumed that festival attendees were dancing a little too hard for this feature to work. The festival was headlined by Foo Fighters, Kendrick Lamar, and Odessa, so it is quite understandable that there was a lot of frenetic dancing.

Leduc also quickly confirmed that 911 calls were never treated as false without locating the caller to ensure that emergency services would not be needed on the scene: "Our employees really, really stepped up in their duties so that first responders always really We stepped up. And there was never a situation where we couldn't help someone because of the volume of calls," LeDuc said.

The iPhone's collision detection feature (also found in the latest Apple Watch 8) displays an alert on the screen when it determines that a collision has occurred. Users can contact emergency services or dismiss the alert altogether with a single press of a button. However, if the user does not respond within 20 seconds, the device will automatically contact emergency services and share its location. This large number of false positives probably occurred because participants were probably unaware that the crash detection feature had been activated.

This is not the first time the iPhone's crash detection feature has been fooled. False alerts have occurred before due to roller coasters, snowmobiling, and skiing. If you are going to a music festival or concert this summer, it is recommended that you first check to see if the collision detection feature is enabled or disabled. In the unlikely event that your device does malfunction, Apple's advice is not to hang up immediately, but to continue the call and explain to the person responding that it was a mistake.

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