July 25, 2025, 2:33 pm | Read time: 2 minutes
If you’re heading to a rock concert with a smartwatch, it’s advisable to adjust a specific setting beforehand. Otherwise, you might face issues.
Concerts, whether indoors or open-air, are always a highly entertaining affair. Especially when the artists are so in their element that their energy transfers to the enthusiastic audience. Things can get particularly wild. However, smartwatch owners should take a precaution before attending a rock concert. Otherwise, police interventions might occur.
Smartwatch at Rock Concert Can Trigger False Alarms
This is what the police in Leicestershire, England, recently discovered. According to a Facebook post by the authorities, nearly 700 more emergency calls were received than usual over the past weekend. The reason was the Download music festival, where metal bands performed. Apparently, many attendees wore smartwatches to the rock concerts, which made numerous false emergency calls.
Rock concerts can sometimes get quite rough, especially in the so-called mosh pit, where fans push each other with force. Apparently, this tradition is too wild for a smartwatch. Modern devices have automatic accident detection to inform emergency services in case of a real emergency, potentially saving lives. However, at the Download Festival, there was no serious emergency–the attendees were simply having a lot of fun.
What the Police Recommend
As the police report, they had to respond to and assess all the false emergency calls, eventually taking action themselves. They actually called back several times to get a better understanding of the situation on the ground and to ensure there was no real emergency. The false calls, they noted, prevented staff from taking genuine emergency calls.
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To prevent this from happening again, the police advise setting the smartwatch to airplane mode during a rock concert. Alternatively, owners should temporarily disable the automatic accident detection. If a real or false emergency call is made, it’s advisable to answer calls from blocked numbers–it could be a callback from emergency services.