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Minnesotans enjoy warm-up after winter storm, deep freeze
After a couple of weeks of miserable weather, Minnesotans were out and about on Wednesday, enjoying a slight warmup out of the deep freeze from last week.
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (FOX 9) - People who are sledding, skiing or snowboarding with an Apple Watch should check their settings.
That's a request from the Stearns County Sheriff's Office on Friday after authorities received several calls that a crash or fall occurred. The notification has resulted in deputies responding to coordinates provided via GPS, but they're unable to find a crash or anyone in need of assistance.
"It is believed that the majority of these calls are being received from Apple products. There is likely a setting on Apple Watches sending this alert when the party wearing it is participating in winter recreational activities such as snowmobiling, sledding, or tubing, and this activity involves a sudden stop, quick turn, traveling over rough terrain or are involved in jumping a snowmobile, which may be perceived as a fall," the sheriff's office said in a news release.
The sheriff's office is reminding people to check the settings on their Apple Watch or similar device when they're participating in winter activities, so the device doesn't place an emergency call inadvertently.
Apple's website details how to use fall detection on Apple Watches. If the feature is activated and the watch detects a fall or crash, it will display an alert – the wearer can choose to contact emergency services or dismiss the alert. The watch will wait for your response if it detects you're moving, but if you are "immobile for about a minute" it'll make the call to emergency services automatically.