If you're an iPhone user, and you plan on visiting a theme/amusement park anytime soon, you might want to know about this before your phone calls 911 without your knowledge.

I love riding roller coasters. Here in the Evansville area, we have several great places within driving distance of amusement/theme parks. There's of course, Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana, Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville, Kentucky, and a little further away is Kings Island near Cincinnati, Ohio. All of these places have great roller coasters that guests will wait for hours in line just to ride. If you plan on visiting any amusement/theme parks before they close for the season, you might want to know about something that roller coasters are causing iPhones to do while you ride them.

Holiday World & Splashin' Safari
Holiday World & Splashin' Safari
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Roller Coasters Causing iPhones to Call 911

The new iPhone 14's have a feature on there called "Crash Detection" that can tell if you're in an accident and automatically call 911 to get assistance to you. However, according to CNET, there's a minor glitch associated with this feature that has been calling 911 for people who are on a roller coaster.

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CNET says:

The feature, introduced at Apple's product event in early September, uses an axis gyroscope and high G-force accelerometer to detect four main types of crashes: front, side, rear-end and rollover crashes. If the sensors detect an impact, the feature will automatically connect the person wearing it to emergency services. If the wearer doesn't dismiss the call within 20 seconds, an audio message informs emergency services of the crash and provides its location. The feature is part of Apple's increased focus on safety features in its mobile products.

You can see how hitting a sharp turn or going through a loop on a roller coaster might feel like a crash to iPhones. So far, there have been 911 calls from Six Flags Great America near Chicago, and it's happened at least six times at Kings Island near Cincinnati since the iPhone 14 went on sale last month. The thing with this feature is that nobody would know that their phone has called 911, because you're not really checking your phone on a roller coaster. These rides typically last longer than 20 seconds, so you don't have enough time to cancel the call once you get off the ride. So,  went on sale less than a month ago. You've only got 20 seconds to cancel the call once it detects a crash. And obviously, emergency crews have been called to these parks as a result.

Oh, and iPhone 14's aren't the only thing triggering the Crash Detection feature. It's also installed on the Apple Watch Series 8 too, according to CNET.

How to Disable This Feature Before Riding Roller Coasters

While this feature is clearly intended for car accidents, clearly there's some work to be done to detect if you're in a car or on a roller coaster. It's unclear at the moment if Apple plans to do anything about this, but there is a solution. If you have the new iPhone or Apple Watch, you can avoid these accidental calls by temporarily putting the device on airplane mode or disabling the feature in settings.

(H/T- CNET)

How To Set Up Sound Recognition On Your iPhone

You can turn on the Sound Recognition feature on your iPhone and your phone can listen for specific sounds and alert you when they are detected. These sounds could be very useful and could protect your family.

How to Set a Contact as an Emergency Bypass on Your iPhone

This safety feature will make sure you don't miss an important phone call by allowing this person to bypass your phone's silent setting. Basically if your phone is on silent, if this contact calls you it will ring so you absolutely don't miss their call.

How to Take Professional Quality Photos with Your Phone

About eight years ago, when my daughter was really little, I asked for a fancy camera from my husband. I never buy anything for myself and he always spoils me when it comes to gifts so I did hours and hours of research and finally picked what I wanted - a SONY A37 DSLR. You pretty much can't buy it anywhere now but at the time, it was perfect for me. I mostly took photos and video of my family but once in a while I was asked to photograph a wedding or senior photos. I'd always start with - I'm not a professional photographer. If you want professional - HIRE a professional.

Fast forward to 2021, and now I have a fancy phone that has a fantastic camera built-in. Now, my advice is still IF YOU WANT PROFESSIONAL PHOTOS, HIRE A PROFESSIONAL but if you can't afford one or want a couple of basic fall pics of your kiddo or family, here are some tips I picked up from classes I've taken along the way.

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