New Apple Watch ad reveals how the Emergency SOS feature saved a man in Australia

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The Apple Watch has saved countless lives over the years, and a new Apple video explains how it helped rescue a man swept out to sea in Australia.

Smartwatch screen displaying emergency options: Medical ID, Compass Backtrack, and Emergency Call. Dark interface with rounded shapes and a side button.
A new Apple video shows how the Emergency SOS feature of the Apple Watch saved a man in Australia.



On Wednesday, Apple released a promotional video titled "Rick's Rescue," which highlights the impact the Emergency SOS feature of the Apple Watch can have on people's lives. It does so by telling the story of Rick Shearman, who was caught in an ocean current that dragged him out to sea.

He was only rescued thanks to the Apple Watch, as he initiated a call to emergency services in July 2024, while still in the water.

Shearman, an experienced swimmer from New South Wales, was bodysurfing in rough seas when strong waves drove him further and further away from shore. The current carried him about a mile, to the point where he could no longer even see the beach. After trying to swim back to shore for around 20 minutes, Shearman realized he needed help, and he knew exactly what to do.



Fatigued by the effort to avoid breaking waves and unable to get back to the beach, Shearman remembered the Emergency SOS function of his Apple Watch. While treading water, he located the feature on the device and called emergency services.

A rescue helicopter was dispatched, located Shearman, and winched him into the craft to take him back to the beach.

All of this was depicted in the "Rick's Rescue" video, albeit through a dramatization with computer-generated imagery rather than actual video footage. The advertisement does contain Shearman's voice, though, as the audio from his call to emergency services was used.

The Emergency SOS feature depicted in the video was introduced with the watchOS 3 update, which was released back in 2016. It was also featured in an ad for the Apple Watch Series 7, published in 2022.

More importantly, however, the Emergency SOS feature of the Apple Watch has saved countless lives over the years. In January 2024, it helped rescue a woman after a near-fatal experience with carbon monoxide poisoning. In 2025, was used in the rescue of skiers who fell 1,000 feet down a mountain, and in 2018 it helped save a woman and her child after a collision.

The feature has also caused problemsfor police on a few occasions, mainly through accidental calls to emergency services. Emergency SOS on the Apple Watch is easy to enable and customize, so much so that even kids have used it.

How to activate Emergency SOS on the Apple Watch



By default, your Apple Watch can call emergency services by holding the Side Button down for 5 seconds.

Holding the button will reveal a menu, and then a timer will start counting down. Emergency SOS will contact emergency services, like 911 in the United States. It also sends a message to all of your registered emergency contacts.



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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,431member
    Really great ad. 

    I was thinking the brief background shot of the land didn’t look like Bryon (far too dry and no big cape with white lighthouse) and the dramatisation didn’t happen in Australia, but then a westpac rescue chopper turned up.
    mattinoz
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  • Reply 2 of 8
    www1111222www1111222 Posts: 10member
    the people in the helicopter saved him, not the watch.  Back in the days when people used landlines to call the emergency services, we didn't give the credit to the home-phone, we gave it to the respondents.
    muthuk_vanalingamappleinsideruser
     2Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 3 of 8
    mattinozmattinoz Posts: 2,608member
    www1111222 said:
    the people in the helicopter saved him, not the watch.  Back in the days when people used landlines to call the emergency services, we didn't give the credit to the home-phone, we gave it to the respondents.
    Yes if he took his landline phone out swimming with it could have saved him. 
    iqatedoentropys
     2Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 4 of 8
    iqatedoiqatedo Posts: 1,846member
    mattinoz said:
    Yes if he took his landline phone out swimming with it could have saved him. 
    I'm old enough to remember being so impressed by Dick Tracy making a call from his wrist. Today, Tracy would be mind-blown by this capability.
    mattinoz
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 5 of 8
    iqatedoiqatedo Posts: 1,846member
    The issue that I have with this advertisement is that once the helicopter arrived, there wasn't more than a ripple in the ocean below. Perhaps it had calmed down by then :D
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 6 of 8
    www1111222www1111222 Posts: 10member
    mattinoz said:
    Yes if he took his landline phone out swimming with it could have saved him. 
    My point is that the watch was a communication device, similar to a landline phone, why give the credit to the watch, if the watch sprung out propeller blades and dragged him back to shore, I would then say the watch saved his life.  The watch didn't even detect he was in distress, and automatically send a distress signal, he manually had to do it.  If he had his iPhone on him, and he then placed a philosophers call, would Apple give credit to the phone?
    muthuk_vanalingam
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  • Reply 7 of 8
    mattinozmattinoz Posts: 2,608member
    iqatedo said:
    The issue that I have with this advertisement is that once the helicopter arrived, there wasn't more than a ripple in the ocean below. Perhaps it had calmed down by then :D
    Or the downforce of air from a helicopter causes its own ripples radiating outwards.

     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 8 of 8
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,431member
    My point is that the watch was a communication device, similar to a landline phone, why give the credit to the watch, if the watch sprung out propeller blades and dragged him back to shore, I would then say the watch saved his life.  The watch didn't even detect he was in distress, and automatically send a distress signal, he manually had to do it.  If he had his iPhone on him, and he then placed a philosophers call, would Apple give credit to the phone?
    Without the watch the helicopter would not have turned up and he would have drowned. And he had to call manually? Oh, noes! What was supposed to happen, the watch know when his lungs were full of water and call 000 then?
    edited April 11
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