A smartwatch is an essential piece of equipment for tech lovers and fitness enthusiasts. They allow you to track your daily activities and overall fitness, reply to texts and calls, get directions, check the weather, make contactless payments, take photos, play music through your headphones, and more. Your smartwatch can also ensure your safety and get help in an emergency.
Smartwatches, such as the Google Pixel Watch 3, Samsung Galaxy Watch 7, and OnePlus Watch 3, have safety features that help before, during, and after a crisis, whether an accident or illness. These tools call for help, alert you or your contacts that something is wrong, and ensure emergency responders are informed of your location and medical history. These are the six important hidden smartwatch safety features you need to know and why they matter.
Many of these safety features must be set up manually and turned on from your smartwatch settings app.
If you are in trouble, most smartwatches come with a version of Emergency SOS to discreetly call for help. It calls emergency services, shares your location, alerts your emergency contacts, and sometimes provides responders with important information about who you are and your medical history.
How you activate it varies depending on your device. It is often an action on the watch, like quickly pressing the home button. Most watches display a short countdown or menu before making the call to avoid mistakes. You can also call a friend or family member in a crisis rather than emergency services, but it’s worth considering that they may not answer.
Many recent smartwatches have Emergency SOS or something similar, including Samsung Galaxy Watches, the Google Pixel Watch, Garmin smartwatches, Fitbit devices, and more. If your watch has this tool, learn how to activate it. You can usually find that information in your watch’s smartphone app, where you can adjust how it works.
Fall Detection
Automatically get help if you’re hurt
A fall can put you at risk of serious injury, whether it’s a tumble during exercise or tripping on stairs. Fall detection is available on smartwatches with accelerometers and gyroscopes. It detects sudden movements that suggest you have fallen over and checks if you are okay or need help. If you need help or are not responsive, it notifies your emergency contacts or calls emergency services.
This feature is available on all sorts of smartwatches, including the Google Pixel Watch 2 and later and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 and above. On Garmin watches, it’s called Incident detection. A handful of Amazfit watches have it, such as the GTR 4 and GTS 4, and the OnePlus Watch 3 introduced it in 2025.
In most cases, this feature isn’t switched on by default, so go into your watch’s adjoining smartphone app to enable it.
Irregular Heart Rhythm notifications
Get a notification if your heart rate is too low or too high
One benefit of a smartwatch is having the ability to keep an eye on your heart rate throughout the day and during exercise. It’s a great way to track your heart health. It also helps if your heart rate becomes abnormal.
Most recent smartwatches use the built-in optical heart rate sensor to notify you if your resting heart rate goes outside your normal range in a way that suggests atrial fibrillation (AFib). Being aware of a potential problem encourages you to consult a doctor sooner than you may have done otherwise.
Many smartwatches require this tool to be toggled on in the device settings.
Display your medical info
Make sure first responders know your medical history
If you are in an emergency, you can make sure the first responders know who you are and your medical information from your smartwatch. This works differently on different smartwatches. Some send it when the call is made, while others show it on the display.
On the Pixel Watch, you can share your information automatically when you make an emergency call through the Safety app. On a Samsung Galaxy Watch, press and hold the Home key and tap Emergency medical info to show it on the screen. A similar feature is available on Fitbits, Apple Watches, and more. It’s worth investigating how to do it on your watch before you have an emergency.
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How to use Satellite SOS and the other safety features you should know about
Crash detection
Your watch can help in a road accident
In 2025, some recent smartwatches come with Crash Detection, which uses the GPS, accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer, and occasionally microphones to recognize when you have been in a severe road accident. It automatically calls emergency services for help, shares your location, and lets your emergency contacts know something has happened.
Currently, this feature isn’t widespread. It’s available on the Google Pixel Watch and Apple Watch Series 8 and later, SE (2nd generation), and Ultra models. You must turn on this feature in the smartwatch settings app.
Safety Check
Get home safely
If you’re concerned about getting home safely, a few smartwatches have a useful Safety Check feature. On the Google Pixel Watch, you can set a timer when you head home. If you don’t confirm you got home on time, the watch notifies your emergency contacts and shares your location. If you have an Apple Watch, you can share your location with your friends and family for set periods so they can make sure you get home safely.
Related
Which is the best smartwatch for safety features?
The Google Pixel Watch 3 has the most safety features, including an easy-to-use Emergency SOS, fall detection, irregular heart rate notifications, and more niche tools like Safety Check and Crash Detection. If you’re hunting for a smartwatch to keep you safe, we recommend it, and buying the LTE model ensures you can call for help even without a paired smartphone nearby.
For some people, it’s worth investing in a rugged device, especially if you’re a regular hiker, mountain climber, or explorer. Some watches survive extreme temperatures, have a battery that lasts for days or weeks, and still work after being immersed in water or aggressively knocked around. While these aren’t necessarily safety features, they ensure you can use your watch in even the most severe situations.
