Technology can save lives when given the chance. The Apple Watch Ultra did that last year for one Aussie pulled out to sea.
Imagine being swept away from land, away from civilisation, with only your wits and your skills to guide you, to keep you floating and living and surviving. What can you do?
You can’t reach for a phone because you might not have it with you, and it’s difficult to make a call when you’re keeping yourself afloat.
If you’re wearing a watch with SOS capability, you can reach out and call someone, anyone, to help save your life.
In that rare situation, it’s a gadget that could just save your life, and for one Australian, that’s precisely what happened.
Rick Shearman’s story could have happened to anyone.
Body surfing for fun off the coast of Byron Bay in northern NSW, Rick was sucked out to sea and caught in a rip and dragged to sea.
The water piling on, sending wave after wave and exhausting him in the process, Rick used the Apple Watch strapped to his wrist to send out an SOS.
A feature built directly into the Apple Watch Ultra he was wearing at the time.
On July 13, 2024, Rick was rescued 1.6 kilometres off the coast from where he started.
He has his Apple Watch to thank.
Features reviewers can’t truly test
There are aspects to technology reviewers can’t really test. We’re not likely to get lost, and so won’t get to try the Emergency SOS feature on the iPhone, and Apple launched the tech locally well past the launch of that phone, so it would have been largely moot anyway.
It’s difficult to fake a fall, so testing proper fall detection is next to impossible, as well. You can’t just shake your hand and expect it to fire, much like the crash detection can’t be tricked.
Reviewers don’t just have spare cars to crash, and Apple isn’t going to supply them either. You just have to trust this technology works when you need it.
That can seem like a lot: trusting technology on faith. But in some instances, that’s precisely all you can do.
When Rick Shearman was pulled out to sea and struggling to tread water, the Emergency SOS feature found inside his Apple Watch was what his life depended on.
The feature connected him with Triple Zero from the ocean, which then connected him with Surf Life Saving NSW, and in turn requested assistance from a Westpac Lifesaver Rescue Helicopter.
This chain of events started from an Apple Watch Ultra, and ended with his life being saved. He was winched out of the water, flown to dry land, where an ambulance was waiting.
Derived from real life
The story inspired Apple to turn these events into an advertisement, though one taken from the events of real life.
Emergency SOS via satellite has been built into the iPhone range since the iPhone 14, covering the iPhone 15, iPhone 16, and respective Pro and Pro Max models. The entire current iPhone range practically supports the technology, while the Watch supports the technology internationally on models from the Series 5 Apple Watch and higher.
Like fall detection, crash detection, and heart rate changes, it’s a feature that can’t really be tested by reviewers, needing to be triggered in the moment. But this situation isn’t an isolated event, either.
Fall detection helped save a man’s life in the mid-west of America, while crash detection helped save the life of another.
A low heart rate warning from an Apple Watch saved one man’s life in California, while someone on the other side of the country credits his Apple Watch for saving his life for similar reasons.
They’re not the only cases, clearly, but the numbers are growing, as more people find their smart devices impacting their lives positively. From little improvements in health to big deals like saving your life, smart watches like the Apple Watch are making a big impact in people’s lives.
