PSA | Oops! Your Kids Can Still Call 911 on a Deactivated Apple Watch

It’s been nearly seven years since the first Apple Watch models went on sale, which means there are probably many older models that have fallen into disuse or been otherwise repurposed. However, if you’re thinking that an Apple Watch might make a good toy to amuse your toddler, you’ll want to consider this cautionary tale.

As shared by AppleInsider, a three-year-old boy in Michigan managed to call emergency services not once, but twice on an old Apple Watch that his mom had handed down to him as a toy.

The father of the lad, Leon Hendrix, took to Twitter to share the story, along with a video (below) of how Landon also somehow ended up in his brother’s crib, chatting away in toddler-speak with the 911 operator.

Cuteness aside, it’s also an example of how technology hand-me-downs can come with unintended consequences. The parents obviously believed the Apple Watch that Landon was using wasn’t connected, but clearly the youngster managed to somehow initiate a 911 call, likely by activating the Emergency SOS feature.

The 911 dispatcher appeared to clue in pretty quickly to what was going on, telling the child to “take the phone to your mommy so I can talk to her.” It’s unclear if Landon followed those instructions or his parents figured out what was going on in some other way. However, they took the watch away from him, at which point the boy innocently said, “But mom, I was talkin’ to everybody!”

Hendrix adds that when he checked the call history on the iPhone that the Apple Watch was paired with, it turns out that this was Landon’s second 911 call of the evening.

Fortunately, the 911 dispatcher seemed to take the whole thing in stride, even sending a message to Hendrix the next day to let him know that she had seen the footage he shared, describing it as “Adorable.”

A Double-Edged Sword

The ability to call 911 in an emergency is one of the most important life-saving features of the Apple Watch. It’s saved countless people stranded at sea, falling through ice, being carried away by a raging river, falling off cliffs, or even just falling down while alone in the cold.

Unfortunately, it’s so easy to use that it’s been creating a problem for emergency services — and not just from three-year-olds using the wearable without parental supervision. It’s often activated accidentally in a wide variety of situations, and even though there’s a delay before the emergency mode kicks in and places a 911 call, some folks panic and can’t figure out how to halt the call in time.

It’s quite difficult to block an Apple Watch from being able to call emergency services entirely, as this is a critical safety feature. U.S. safety laws require that all cellular-capable devices, from smartphones to wearables, must be able to place a call to 911 even if they aren’t on an active plan.

1. A non-cellular Apple Watch must be paired with an iPhone, and of course as long as the two devices are within range of each other, any calls placed from the Apple Watch will be routed through the iPhone.
2. A non-cellular watch can also still make calls independently of an iPhone when it’s connected to a Wi-Fi network and your carrier supports Wi-Fi calling. This includes calls to emergency services. Note that an Apple Watch will automatically connect to nearly any Wi-Fi network that the paired iPhone has connected to in the past.
3. Although Apple’s Family Setup feature allows an Apple Watch to be used more independently of an iPhone, this is only available for cellular Apple Watch models, and a cellular Apple Watch can always call 911 — even if you haven’t signed up for a plan and there’s no iPhone nearby.
   

Needless to say, it’s pretty difficult to guarantee that an Apple Watch can’t be used to call 911. Fortunately, though, there is a way to make it a bit harder for a toddler to do this accidentally. Here’s how:

1. On the Apple Watch, press the Digital Crown and open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and tap SOS.
3. Tap Hold Side Button.
4. Tap the switch beside “Hold Side Button” to toggle it off.
   

If you prefer, you can also do this from the Watch app on your iPhone.

Note that this does not block the ability to use the Emergency SOS feature — it merely makes it more difficult to trigger it accidentally. Even when the Hold Side Button feature is enabled, you need to hold that button down for about seven seconds before an emergency call is placed, and you’ll hear your Apple Watch making a lot of noise during the final five-second countdown.

That’s pretty hard to miss, although it’s also understandable how a toddler might actually find that encouraging, rather than alarming.

With the Hold Side Button feature disabled, however, it’s still ridiculously simple to initiate the Emergency SOS feature — perhaps even easier, in fact. Holding the side button down will still display the Emergency SOS slider, and swiping on that will immediately start a call to Emergency Services — with no countdown.

You can cancel that call if you’re really quick, although you’ll not only need to hit the red end call button, but you’ll also have to tap a second time to confirm you actually want to abort the call. Chances are you won’t make it in time.

To give you an idea of how fast you have to be, while testing this, I cancelled the outbound call in less than a second. Even so, I received a call from the Toronto Police moments later, noting that I had placed a 911 call and wanting to know if I had an actual emergency. Had I not answered that return call, I’m quite sure someone would have soon been showing up at my door. Needless to say, don’t try this at home.

Note that you’ll still be given the option to notify your emergency contacts even if you choose to abort the 911 call — whether it goes through or not — after which your medical ID will also be displayed for quick access, presumably in case you’re unconscious or incoherent by the time someone finds you.

So, while disabling the Hold Side Button option might prevent some emergency calls, we doubt it would prevent a curious toddler from triggering the Emergency SOS option in a way that’s even less obvious.

The lesson to be learned in all this is that an Apple Watch is not a toy for young children. This important safety device has some emergency features built-in that are virtually impossible to disable — and for good reason. We think it’s far more important to ensure that somebody who needs emergency help will be able to get it.