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During Boxing and Kickboxing activity, AppleWatch triggers pause and Falling

I have used Apple Watch Gen2, Gen5 and now Ultra now; use activity tracker all the time both in the gym and outdoors. Works very well except when I’m doing boxing or kickboxing; it sometimes pauses the exercise workout when I punch the bag hard. And if I have “fall notification” turned on, it alerts me that it’s about to call 911. Neither case is desires and both interrupts my workout and workout tracking. I have made the strap of the watch right and snug, still happens.


I have tried to use screen lock (water lock) and still have the issue with pausing workout when I punch the bag hard. I had to turn off Fall Protection in parallel to avoid false 911 calls.


Need advice how I can prevent this from happening or how can Apple improve it so it won’t pause. Help if you have a solution.

Apple Watch Series 6, watchOS 7

Posted on Jan 22, 2023 9:40 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 22, 2023 10:00 PM

I've seen this is an issue for other Ultra users as well in the most recent tech news.


It seems Apple is aware of the issue and Apple engineers are in search of solutions.


But I think that you can see the dilemma. The functional hardware that detects falls can't help but also be set off by something violently similar to a fall such as kickboxing. How would you program the watch to know the difference?


I have a series 7 Watch and occasionally when playing with my cat and pounding my fists on my bed I set off the fall detection function. I don't know if we can have our cake and eat it too!


Perhaps you could look into Watch shortcut automations and figure out how to create one that makes turning Fall Detection off & on easier. YMMV


M1 Mac mini, macOS 13.1; Watch, series 7 GPS/cellular, watchOS 9.2; iPad Pro 2nd Gen, iPadOS 16.2; iPhone 12 Pro, iOS 16.2; TV 4th Gen, tvOS 16.2; HomePods, audioOS 16.2 and Airport Express w/ Airplay 2

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 22, 2023 10:00 PM in response to Ike-TR-54

I've seen this is an issue for other Ultra users as well in the most recent tech news.


It seems Apple is aware of the issue and Apple engineers are in search of solutions.


But I think that you can see the dilemma. The functional hardware that detects falls can't help but also be set off by something violently similar to a fall such as kickboxing. How would you program the watch to know the difference?


I have a series 7 Watch and occasionally when playing with my cat and pounding my fists on my bed I set off the fall detection function. I don't know if we can have our cake and eat it too!


Perhaps you could look into Watch shortcut automations and figure out how to create one that makes turning Fall Detection off & on easier. YMMV


M1 Mac mini, macOS 13.1; Watch, series 7 GPS/cellular, watchOS 9.2; iPad Pro 2nd Gen, iPadOS 16.2; iPhone 12 Pro, iOS 16.2; TV 4th Gen, tvOS 16.2; HomePods, audioOS 16.2 and Airport Express w/ Airplay 2

During Boxing and Kickboxing activity, AppleWatch triggers pause and Falling

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