iPhone 14 automatically calls 911 on rollercoasters

Just last month, Apple’s new iPhone 14 released, but beyond its snazzy new camera features and improved battery life, a new feature has seemingly been giving users way more than they bargained for.

As reported by The Verge (and first covered by The Wall Street Journal), the new Crash Detection feature, which released alongside the new iPhone (and is also available on Apple Watch Ultra, Series 8 and the second generation of Apple Watch SE), has been working a little bit too well for users at amusement parks. The feature is intended to detect severe car crashes (including front and side impacts, vehicle rollovers and rear-end collisions).

Check out the iPhone 14 Pro's various features in the video below.

When a crash is detected, the iPhone 14 shows an alert on the screen, which it reads aloud, and displays an emergency call slider. However, if you don’t dismiss it, the emergency services will be automatically called after 20 seconds, and a message and your location will be sent to your emergency contacts, too. 

In theory, this is a potentially life-saving feature, but it’s already led to a number of false calls which have led to emergency services turning up at amusement parks to find no crash at all, as it seems that the feature can also be triggered by the sudden harsh movements of rollercoasters. According to The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern, the Kings Island amusement park in Warren County, Ohio has seen at least six emergency calls triggered from the Crash Detection feature since the iPhone 14’s release. 

Since the iPhone 14 went on sale, the 911 dispatch center near Kings Island amusement park has received at least six phones calls saying:

“The owner of this iPhone was in a severe car crash...”

Except, the owner was just on a roller coaster.

🆕 by me: https://t.co/hp1fHZBIf6 pic.twitter.com/i0lZPoWzGz

— Joanna Stern (@JoannaStern) October 9, 2022

There are a few easy workarounds, however. Obviously, you can simply choose not to take your phone on rollercoasters (also a pretty good idea in general when you consider how many people drop them), but otherwise, you can also disable the feature altogether. It’s certainly something to be aware of before getting on any big rides.