Apple’s ‘True Story’ Videos Prove the Apple Watch is the Ultimate Lifesaver

Stories of the Apple Watch saving lives are seemingly endless, spanning over a decade, from a teenage football player’s Rhabdomyolysis diagnosis in September 2015 to a diver’s rescue in October 2025. While we usually hear about these from local news agencies, it seems Apple itself has begun more actively sharing these one-offs on its official YouTube channel.

Over the past month, two new videos have appeared with a “True Apple Watch Story” tagline that suggests they could be the start of a new series. The first video, posted on July 21, tells the story of a man named Phil, who was rendered unconscious after a mountain bike crash on a remote trail, saved perhaps only because his Apple Watch Fall Detection feature notified his wife and shared his location with emergency services.

Phil’s story is similar to one we reported on in 2019, when mountain biker Bob Burdett was picked up by paramedics while still unconscious thanks to his own Apple Watch. His son, Gabe, was also able to use the emergency notification to figure out which hospital his father had been taken to.

Now, a second video has been posted this week, nearly a month later, which leaves us wondering if we’ll see monthly installments. Shifting the narrative from the Emergency SOS and Fall Detection features, “Connor’s True Apple Watch Story” is about a triathlete who used the ECG app to reveal signs of atrial fibrillation.

This ultimately led to the discovery of a congenital heart condition that required Connor to undergo open heart surgery.

These are the only two one-off videos to appear on Apple’s primary YouTube channel. While the company did run a mashup video on September 9, 2025, titled “Dear Apple: How Apple Watch Is Changing People’s Lives,” this was tied to last year’s event where it launched the Apple Watch Series 11.

That said, Apple Australia ran its own version of the series in early 2025. “Rick’s Rescue: A true Apple Watch story” shared how Australian bodysurfer Rick Shearman used his Apple Watch Ultra to summon help after he was swept away while treading rough seas at Tallow Beach.

Although Apple has only highlighted a few stories directly, there are tons more out there. In recent years, we’ve shared how the heart rate sensors have saved a mother and her unborn baby, how they alerted a Canadian firefighter to a heart attack, and how the Blood Oxygen app warned a Cleveland man of life-threatening blood clots. We’ve also seen a woman detecting a rare cancer and a man being pulled out of an upside-down car in a swimming pool.

These sensors can help uncover various conditions, including atrial fibrillation, myocardial ischemia, ventricular bigeminy, and supraventricular tachycardia. They have also warned users of abnormal vitals revealing blood clots, ruptured ulcers, and kidney failure. Although the Apple Watch is not a diagnostic device, its alerts have prompted many to seek medical care, uncovering previously unknown health issues.

Rick’s Rescue has since been removed from the Apple Australia YouTube channel, but we can’t help but wonder if it inspired Apple HQ to follow suit with its own “True Story” series. We’ll have to wait and see if this becomes a monthly phenomenon, but the delivery of two videos on July 21 and August 20 makes us wonder what we’ll see by the time September 21 rolls around — especially since the Apple Watch Series 12 should be officially announced by then.