Apple Watch SOS Feature Saves Chicago Man Phillip Esho From Drowning

A Chicago man credits his Apple Watch for saving his life after he nearly drowned in Lake Michigan.

According to Phillip Esho, he was riding his jet ski intending to takes photos of the Chicago skyline when a strong wave suddenly flipped over vehicle and knocked him into the water.

Esho lost his phone during the incident. People in nearby boats neither saw or heard him call for help as the wave kept him underwater.

The man was fortunately quick-witted and came up with a solution to help himself. He used his Apple Watch’s sophisticated operating system (SOS) feature, which allows users to easily call the local emergency number.

“After an emergency call ends, your Apple Watch alerts your emergency contacts with a text message, unless you choose to cancel. Your Apple Watch sends them your current location, and, for a period of time after you enter SOS mode, it sends your emergency contacts updates when your location changes,” Apple described its Emergency SOS feature.

Esho used the smartphone’s emergency call feature to contact 911, but he was not sure if the call worked because he could not understand what the dispatcher was saying. The call also got disconnected.

He attempted to reconnect to 911, but his earlier call apparently sent the message that he was in distress because it did not take long before he saw help coming.

Soon after the call, Esho said he saw that a helicopter, fire boats and the Chicago police have already arrived to rescue him. He now credits his second chance at life to his Apple Watch, which helped him connect to emergency number.

This is not the first time the Apple Watch has helped save a life. Last year, the device saved the life of a teenager in Florida by alerting her of a serious medical condition.

Deanna Recktenwald was just sitting in a pew at church when her Apple Watch alerted her that her resting heart rate spiked to 190. This prompted her family to verify the alert and seek medical help. Further testing revealed that her kidneys were only working at about 20 percent.

She was later diagnosed of Alport syndrome, a genetic condition that causes the progressive loss of kidney function. The Apple Watch helped alert the teen of the symptoms before she would have needed an emergency surgery.