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Alarm for fire brigade: iPhone incorrectly triggers emergency call!
A strange operation by the fire department in Grafenau: A missing iPhone triggered an emergency call that did not lead to an accident.
Alarm for fire brigade: iPhone incorrectly triggers emergency call!
Last Saturday, July 6, 2025, the fire department in Freyung was alerted during the FFW summer festival. At 1 p.m., the Freyung fire department received a report about a so-called “eCall without voice response” on the B 12, near the McDonald's in Freyung-Ort. Since firefighters were already at the equipment shed, they were able to quickly get to the scene of the alleged accident. The alarm fax indicated a serious car accident - it spoke of an "Apple Watch - Serious car accident - no voice contact", which worried the emergency services.
However, when we arrived on site, it quickly became clear that there were no accident vehicles. The fire brigade, police and rescue services then searched the area, but were initially unable to find any further evidence of an accident. The situation was tense and emergency services were concerned about possible injuries. After a while, an unexpected turn of events occurred.
Curious end to the mission
The original cause of the alarm, a driver, was finally located. It turned out that his iPhone had fallen off the roof of the car as he drove off, triggering an SOS emergency call. The man only noticed the missing smartphone after the rescue workers had searched and was finally able to give the all-clear. After about 15 minutes, the operation was over and the fire brigade was able to return to its summer festival.
Such automatic emergency notifications are based on the new accident detection that devices such as the iPhone 14 and the Apple Watch support. This technology detects serious car accidents, such as frontal, side and rear impacts, and can automatically make an emergency call if the user does not respond. It should be noted that, in addition to the iPhone version, all Apple Watch models from the Series 8 onwards are equipped with this function and can use a cellular or Wi-Fi connection to alert emergency services support.apple.com.
Accident detection works so that if a serious car accident is detected, both the iPhone and Apple Watch will beep and display a warning. If the user does not respond within 30 seconds, an emergency call is automatically made - a feature that can save lives, especially if the driver is unable to call for help themselves.
In summary, there were no injuries and the fire department was able to continue the summer festival while the incident once again demonstrated the limits of technology and its unforeseen consequences. The incident not only highlights the importance of new emergency call technologies, but also the sometimes strange situations that can arise from them.