I just stepped out onto the driveway after freezing rain and took a full "just like you would see in a cartoon" fall. I mean, a complete body hard fall. I'm about 2 meters tall and weigh 100kg and hit in complete free-fall. The landing was not a progressive affair, but rather an instantaneous impact across my entire right side. Going to guess i pulled 5+ g. Shocked I didn't break anything.
Anyway, upon laying there for the better part of a minute to ascertain what did/didn't work on most of my limbs and joints, I extricated myself and came in to bandage my multiple abrasions, and I got to thinking, "shouldn't my wife have gotten a notification?"
Preamble:
Yes my Galaxy Watch 5 Pro was on my wrist.
Yes my Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is fully updated.
Yes my Galaxy Watch 5 Pro was configured to detect hard falls
Yes my Galaxy Watch 5 Pro has my wife's up to date contact information supplied in the function's configuration.
Yes my Galaxy S22 Ultra was on and in my pocket and had a Bluetooth connection to my watch.
Yes my Galaxy S22 Ultra is running current firmware.
No, my Galaxy Watch Pro 5 did not send a notification of any kind. Nor is there an indication on my phone to show one was attempted.
What the actual heck constitutes a hard fall? Dropping out of an airplane?
LOL.
Yeah, I'm going to live - thanks for asking - but I find it pretty hilarious that no notification was even attempted.
There is no way what just transpired would not constitute as a "hard fall".
LOL
Note to self, do not bother counting on this bit of functionality.
Not looking for troubleshooting on this, as there is nothing more to check. Just thought I would try out typing this with one left hand, as practice with my right arm in a sling.
Hello, We understand the importance of the hard fall detection feature. If resetting the watch doesn't allow the feature to work properly, service is recommended. You can use the following link to find a list of service centers in the U.S. that can do the repair: http://www.samsung.com/us/support/service/ or by calling customer support at 1-800-726-7864.
My problem is that I don't like to carry my phone with me when I walk my neighborhood, so if I fall I don't have that BT connection. But I figure at least I didn't break my phone! Wish the watch could somehow work around that, but if it doesn't work with the phone it's not going to work without it.
Thanks. I am, as expected, very sore right now - and expecting that to be much worse tomorrow.
You could, of course, get the LTE version of the watch. I'm sure that one would detect a hard fall soooooo much better.
Just because I am the type that cannot let this sort of thing go, I brought a one meter step-stool to my bedroom and, from the top step, simulated several "falls" onto the bed. Each time carefully laying still after each attempt, in order to achieve a scenario that would emulate a real unconsciousness-invoking event.
Yeah. That hurt. But, hey, it's for science.
Not a single notification was sent.
And, because I didn't identify it before, yes, the detect-always option is selected in the configuration.
I've been a software engineer since shortly after the earth cooled, and oddly enough I find that most of the projects I work on have a requirement to test the functionality I create.
This appears to have not been a priority for Samsung with respect to the fall-detection "feature".
Appreciate your sacrifices for science. And hope you have some good painkillers. I've fallen twice on sidewalks while walking and once in my home. Broke my wrist and later my 5th metacarpal. So I can almost feel your pain. Wishing you all the best.
So glad you did not break anything and now on the way to recovery.
I have the watch4 classic with Bluetooth and LTE. I could get the SOS to work but never could get the Fall Detection to work. I spent NUMEROUS hours on the phone talking to tech support, more hours in chat and could not get the Fall Detection working. Earlier this week the watch was sent to Samsung Repair in TX and I'm now waiting for a repair status. I keep getting emails informing me of
Repair was authorized, and they included a UPS label I could print.
They had not received the watch, I failed to send it in immediately after getting the repair approval because the issue to be repaired was not correct and I wanted to ensure they were working on the fall detection and not a watch boot issue. I have no idea where they got the boot issue, during all the exchanges I never discussed a boot issue.
I called twice and chatted regarding the issue in the ticket was wrong and it should be about the Fall Detection. After the 3rd contact they stated that the ticket had been updated. I don't have a warm fuzzy feeling that it was updated. I've tried to follow-up but so far what I can see in the Service Details on the Samsung website does not include that information. I'm guessing that I need to call them again. I do see in the ticket that it states the watch is NOT under warranty. The warranty issue was something I had discussed, I sent in paperwork showing that I had purchased the watch in Late Feb of 2022 and it should still be under warranty. At that time I was informed that they had updated the warranty and it would be repaired under warranty. I have no idea why the repair ticket states that it is not under warranty.
I did receive an email stating they have received the watch and in one of the latest emails they stated it would be repaired in 4-5 days.
It is now 02/11 and I checked the status of the ticket, still no update and I cannot see what is the reported repair issue.
While chatting with support it was obvious that the tech was working with more than one chat session. Often there would be long pauses between my answer/question and the techs response. Often questions I ask were not answered and I'd forget about the question because the tech would take me down a different path.
During the process I'd receive a phone call from Tech Support and was not able to answer the phone. They would leave a Voice Message but it was very hard to understand the person calling because (1) the volume of the person speaking was too low (2) The accent of the person speaking added to the difficulty of understanding (3) The speed of the speech added to the difficulty of understanding.
I communicated with several different tech and I always got the feeling that the only thing the tech knew about Fall Detection was in the script he/she was using.
Also, I had visited the retail store where I purchased the watch. The sales person stated that they had received zero information about the watch from Samsung.
I also went to the local authorized repair center for Samsung. The tech stated that they knew nothing about the Fall Detection because Samsung had NOT sent them any information.
So far this has been a very difficult road and I don't get a good feeling that when I receive my watch back that the Fall Detection will be working correctly.
Also, as of this date I have not seen any post in the numerous websites I have visited, that the Fall Detection works as Samsung states.
Looking into it, it seems that hard fall detection can be configured in three ways: to always be running, only during a workout or when it "detects" physical activity. I know you said it was enabled in your OP, but I'd check to make sure that it's set to always be running instead of during workout/activity. Otherwise, I would geninuely try to get that thing exchanged since one miss is, well, it can happen but it sounds like you tested it pretty thoroughly. Zero detections has to be a hardware failure if it is set to always detect.
According to the just-released diagnostic tool, both the accelerometer and the gyroscope are functioning properly on the watch. And, as noted above, the detection is, and always has been, set to be always on.
