It’s entirely unclear to me what the consequences of the yes/no choice would be.
Furthermore, falling is not binary, so there’s the question about where the boundary is. In an emergency situation, I don’t want to have to deal with any of this. It’s terrible UX.
I wrote a Fall Detector app for Android, ten years ago.
When a fall was detected the sample played: "A fall has been detected"
When the caretaker was alerted: "The caretaker has been alerted"
When the caretaker acknowledged: "The caretaker is on their way"
..
I dunno why its so hard. Talk to the user, re-assure them that the app is doing its job.
Again "fall detected" is quite un-human and mechanical. Is this a technical term? Who/what fell? Are you talking about the season? I think the existing Apple language is good and has clearly been through a lot of discussion!
Given the consensus understanding of physics and gravity, it did. It just so happened that it was attached to a larger thing that also fell, and the larger thing likely either knows it and can comprehend this message trivially, or does not and summoning help is the proper action to take.
Reminder that the screen is a false positive protection mechanism and will only ever be seen in a specific context.
> the larger thing likely either knows [about the fall] and can comprehend this message trivially, or does not and summoning help is the proper action to take.
You did say "likely" but to provide an example: skiers who know they fell cannot comprehend the message trivially (not having noticed it's existence) and summoning help is often not the proper action to take. Call centers serving ski towns are swamped with false positives due to this issue.
Sorry, but that's just a pedantic take when we're discussing what is the best UI /UX for wearers to know how to instinctively react in a possibly stressful moment.
You have to solve for the lowest common denominator, not the hacker's technically correct preference.
This ain't about the watch falling, it's about someone possibly needing to call emergency services and contacts when they're hurt. "I'm OK" is a great prompt in that context, even if it's not an explicitly accurate response to whether the watch or wearer fell (which in turn is why the focus is not on the fall but on their need for help).
Are you imagining someone who, having just fallen while wearing their Apple Watch, wondering whether they or their watch fell when their watch says, “fall detected” While they lay on the floor?
I'm imagining a scenario in which someone who, having just fallen while wearing their Apple Watch, concludes the watch is talking about itself when it says "fall detected" and they will have to have it repaired
But the watch didn't detect a fall. The watch saw signals and data points and thinks it could be a fall. Saying "Fall detected" is too confident and not a reflection of the feature.
Furthermore, falling is not binary, so there’s the question about where the boundary is. In an emergency situation, I don’t want to have to deal with any of this. It’s terrible UX.