I had a similar thing happen with an old flip phone. 911 called me on the phone and said I had called them. I was at work and the phone was in my pocket and closed. It couldn't have called 911 or anything else. The call also never appeared in the call log on the phone and it didn't have any emergency button, so it would have actually had to dial the digits.
I hear that Apple is coming out with new software . The beta version will be out in June, and if all goes well, the final will be out in September. It will allow you to turn off tracking on your iPhone--something that Apple has never done as they make a substantial portion of their income from selling your info to other companies. I don't know what has stimulated the change of heart. Perhaps there was a lawsuit? I had a very short flirtation with Apple, and it convinced me that I will never own an Apple product.
Pretty sure that they have already done this with the latest update, @Don Alaska . I just installed it a couple of days ago, and now facebook and other websites are asking me if I want to allow them to track my shopping. If I am going to see ads anyway, it might as well be something that I am interested in, (plus I figure that people are being tracked anyway, permission or not, so this is just a show to make us think that we have control of this)and I think that it is nothing different than they have been doing, so I said okay. If you check out the Best Buy website, you can shop online and see what they have available. They are higher priced than you can find on eBay, but probably come with a warranty, @John Brunner . Once you get an idea of price, you can go and visit the store and let a sales person tell you more about the iPhone and Apple Watch. Hopefully, they aren’t as ridiculous as The Apple Store is being in your area !
@Don Alaska I hate even telling that 911 story, because I get weirded out all over again. It's a handy way for the police to just invite themselves into your home with no warrant. Regarding Apple: If I recall what I saw (or maybe what I read) correctly, the new difference with the new Apple O/S is that Tracking will now be Off by default, and you have to take action to Opt In. That's the opposite of how it used to be. And I agree with you...I do not trust Apple. But I don't trust Google (the owner of Android), either. There was a segment on a television program where a guy carried a turned-off (but battery still in) Droid phone with him as he toured DC for the day. He later took the phone in to a lab where they could capture and decode its transmissions, and they powered it back up. Even when turned off, his phone captured his GPS coordinates with time hacks throughout the day, and sent them to Google as soon as the phone was powered back up. As an aside, my unsuccessful search for info on that show (and this activity) just now caused me to recheck the Location Services in my phone. I see that the government has pushed the COVID Tracker Software to my phone without my knowledge or permission. But it says that it's OFF, so I guess it's OK. I can take their word for it.
@John Brunner, did you try Youtube to help you with the problem with you Iphone? It seems to me that you wouldn't be the only one unwilling to give that information just for an appointment knowing that doing so would open up to unending text messages and ads.
I just looked, and there are tons of "How To Make An Apple Appointment" videos, but none on "How to avoid giving your life away for the privilege of shopping there" vids. I also found a couple of some woman ranting because she "just dropped in" and could not get service. I think I'll start with a selected Ebay reseller and see what they say. If nothing else, it will give me some foundational knowledge so I'm not walking into a store blind.
I love Apple computers, although I'm less ecstatic about the iPhone, and am holding off on buying an Apple Watch until it is able to replace my iPhone altogether. They'll get there eventually.
I heard the story of the phone in DC. Fox news story, I believe. As far back as I can remember, Android has always had the option to opt out of tracking, but according to folks I know who have Apple products, iPhones never did.. This will be the first time Apple has allowed opting out. I was disturbed when I found out from yet other sources that all the phones log every Wi-Fi signal they encounter, even when they cannot log on. It allows the tech companies to follow you wherever you go. In addition to taking the battery out of the phone, there are Faraday cage type cases that can block the signals. I don't trust any tech company completely, and that is why I use DuckDuckGo with Brave and a VPN when I do searches.
The Apple Watch does pretty much replace your phone, @Ken Anderson . Bobby and I wear our watch and never carry our phones unless there is some reason we think we might need a phone (like browsing while waiting at a doctor appointment). Because of all of the phone apps , there are still things that I use the phone to do, but needing an actual phone is NOT one of those things. We make and receive calls with the watch, get iMessages and other alerts, as well as being ale to keep track of important things. The Apple Watch has a lot of different faces you can choose, and swipe from one face to another just like you can with your iPhone face. This way, you can always have all of the information that you need right on your watch. This is a short video, and it explains just a few of the neat things that your Apple Watch is capable of doing.
Yup. That's where I'm stuck. The watch can have stand-alone cell phone capabilities (it's own SIM card), but you still need a compatible phone to configure the watch and set its features. If I could use the watch without needing an Apple phone to configure it, I'd already have one.
Mark my words. A future version of the Apple Watch will not require an iPhone. They could design it so that these things can be done through a computer or iPad.
That's why I've been looking for a used Apple phone & watch, using the phone solely to drive the watch. My understanding is that I do not need a cell account for the phone to update the O/S...I can do it over my computer's WiFi. One would think they could do the same thing for the watch's settings. In fact, I think a laptop would be a preferable interface rather than a phone app or even any native watch features (and navigating those tiny menus.)
We did a fairly big update in our phones / iPad and watch a few days ago and we have a even bigger update coming with the introduction of the ECG in Australia for the first time on our watches ( it’s on my watch but not operating )
So I finally drank the Kool Aid. I ordered an iPhone Mini 12 and an SE Smartwatch. It should arrive at Verizon on Friday. It wasn't a completely voluntary decision. I've already been looking at various options to get a Smartwatch with stand-alone cell phone capabilities, primarily to use as an emergency "I've fallen down" device and so I don't have to carry a phone around when I'm doing work around my property (I've lost my phone more than once when using my tractor.) When you look at the monthly monitoring costs for those emergency pendants and compare them to the $5/month to add a phone-watch to your cell plan (plus all the extra benefits of a phone-watch), it just makes sense to get the phone-watch. It pays for itself after a couple of years, then the rest is gravy. I posted elsewhere about my existing phone battery ordeal, and how my phone's audio stopped working after the shop messed with it (although functionality seems to be returning.) I went to Verizon's website and Apple is running a trade-in special. I got $200 for my rapidly failing phone plus I saved the $70 I almost spent on a new battery (that ordeal worked in my favor.) This tipped me over the edge. So I went with the Mini 12 phone and the SE watch. The Android smartwatches (Samsung Galaxy) do not have one-touch 911 capability like the Apple Watches, or I would have stuck with this platform. For me, I don't need the fall detection or the EGK function of the top-end watches. That makes the SE watch half the cost of the Model 6 watch. So now I'm one of "those people¹." Next thing you know I'll be sitting at Starbucks "having a conversation." ¹Present company excluded