“He didn’t respond… so they kicked in the door” – Tim Cook reveals how the Apple Watch saved his father’s life
- Apple Watch has life-saving features, including fall detection
- Tim Cook has revealed it once saved his own father’s life
- Emergency services were alerted and had to break open a door to save him
Considering the numerous potentially life-saving features on the Apple Watch, CEO Tim Cook is no stranger to stories of how the smartwatch has literally saved the lives of its wearers.
However, during a recent podcast appearance, Cook revealed how the Apple Watch saved the life of his own father, who was left unconscious after a fall.
Cook appeared in the series finale of Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware. During the podcast, the trio discussed Cook’s morning routine, the hype surrounding Apple’s Formula 1 film and how many emails the CEO receives every day.
Cook revealed that he gets “an extraordinary amount of outreach from customers,” including stories about “how the Apple Watch saved their lives.”
When asked if he had ever had his own medical alert on his Apple Watch, Cook said he had not, but revealed how his late father had once fallen in his home and was rescued by emergency services thanks to an alert from his Apple Watch. .
Cook’s most personal Apple Watch rescue story
“I didn’t do that, but my father, when he was alive, fell into the house and lived alone,” he told the hosts.
Cook explained how the Apple Watch’s fall detection feature uses the accelerometer to detect a fall and can alert both emergency contacts and emergency services, before explaining what happened in his father’s case.
“And in this case, the emergency services were alerted. And they came out. He wasn’t responding to the door. And so they kicked in the door… And it was a good thing they did, because he wasn’t at that moment of consciousness,” he said.
Cook revealed that his father, who survived the episode but has since died, was not immediately pleased that his son’s device had saved his life.
When asked what his father thought of the episode, Cook jokingly replied, “No, he was focused on the door, to be honest!”
Other health features of Apple Watch that can save lives include the crash detection feature and an ECG to detect atrial fibrillation. We even have our own story about how the simple high heart rate alert saved a life by detecting the early signs of a pulmonary embolism.
Many of these features are available on cheaper models like the Apple Watch Series 10 and even the Apple Watch SE 2, so you don’t need the best Apple Watch to get the benefits.
Later this year, the company is expected to unveil the new Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Series 11 for the first time, complete with high blood pressure detection.