iPhone Crash Detection: What Every Senior Driver Should Know

Plenty of us drive alone. A trip to the grocery store. A long highway stretch to visit the grandkids. A quiet back road at dusk. Most of the time, nothing happens. But sometimes it does.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were more than 6 million nonfatal accidents in 2024, along with more than 1.6 million that caused injuries and nearly 40,000 fatalities. Being alone in a car when something goes wrong is a serious situation, especially if you cannot reach your phone.

Here is the good news. If you carry an iPhone 14 or newer, your phone already has a feature that can call 911 for you. It is called Crash Detection, and most people have no idea it is there.

What Crash Detection Does

If your car is involved in a severe crash (front- or rear-end collision, side impact, or rollover), your iPhone detects it automatically. You do not have to do a thing.

Here is what happens next.

Your phone displays an alert that reads, “It looks like you’ve been in a crash.” It sounds an alarm and reads the alert aloud, useful if the phone has slid under a seat and you cannot see the screen. An Emergency Call slider appears so you can contact help if you are able.

If you do not respond within 10 seconds, a 30-second countdown begins. During that countdown, Apple describes the phone as producing what it calls loud whoops and aggressive flashing lights. After 30 seconds with no response, your phone dials 911 and reports the crash.

You do not have to press a single button for any of this to happen.

What If You Have an Apple Watch Too?

If you wear an Apple Watch, it works alongside your iPhone. The watch chimes and taps your wrist, displays the same alert, and lets you call and speak directly through the watch. The same 10-second and 30-second sequences apply. Your watch will dial 911 if you do not respond, as long as it has cellular data enabled or is connected to Wi-Fi.

Even if you leave your phone at home and only have your watch, Crash Detection still works. The watch can detect a severe crash on its own and follow the same steps.

Do You Already Have This Feature?

Crash Detection is available on iPhone 14 and all later models running iOS 16 or newer. For Apple Watch, it comes standard on the Series 8, SE 2nd generation, and Ultra, all running watchOS 9 or later.

The feature is turned on by default. You do not need to set anything up. That said, it is worth a quick check to make sure it has not been accidentally switched off. On your iPhone, go to Settings, then tap Emergency SOS. That is where Crash Detection lives.

You can turn it off from that same screen if you ever want to. Apple recommends keeping it on.

Five Other Safety Settings Worth Checking Today

Crash Detection works even better when a few other features are set up alongside it. Here is what Apple recommends having in place:

• Medical ID — Found in the Apple Health app, this stores your important medical information. In a crash, first responders can access it without your passcode.
• Emergency Contacts — Also in the Apple Health app. Adding contacts here means they get an automatic alert if you are in a crash.
• Emergency Calls & SOS — Go to Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Location Services to enable this. It allows your phone to send your location to your emergency contacts. Note that this only works if you use the Messages app as your default.
• Emergency SOS via Satellite — On iPhone 14 and later, this is already available. If your emergency call cannot go through the normal way, your phone can connect through a satellite signal instead. No setup needed,just good to know it is there.
• Emergency Bypass — This lets specific contacts reach you even when your phone is silenced. Open your Contacts app, tap a person, hit Edit, then Ringtone, and toggle Emergency Bypass on.

If you have an Android phone, Google Pixel 4a and later models have a similar feature called Car Crash Detection. Unlike the iPhone version, it is not on by default; you have to turn it on manually.