Warning: *Privacy Not Included with this product
Amazfit Band 5
Xiaomi
Bluetooth
Amazfit--owned by Beijing-based Xiaomi--offers a lower cost health and fitness tracker. It tracks it all--heart rate, sleep, blood oxygen levels, stress, steps, calories, menstrual cycles, and more. It also offers Alexa voice control, which means the little band on your wrist has microphones built-in. It's cheap and feature-packed. Should you trust it? Xiaomi, the parent company of Amazfit, was recently caught secretly collecting data on some users, so buyer beware.
What could happen if something goes wrong?
Xiaomi--the company that makes the Amazfit Band--has recently come under fire when researchers found that Xiaomi was secretly collecting users' data during private web browsing and phone use. This is a huge yikes! We also had a hard time even finding the privacy policy for this fitness tracker--the privacy policy linked from the webpage only applied to the website. We only managed to find the product's privacy policy when we stumbled across it on their help pages. Another yikes. We also can't guarantee this product meets our Minimum Security Standards as the company didn't take the time to respond to our question about how they handle security vulnerabilities. All in all, we warn this band that tracks some of your most personal biometric data comes with *Privacy Not Included. Buyer beware.
Can it snoop on me?
Camera
Device: No
App: Yes
Microphone
Device: Yes
App: No
Tracks location
Device: Yes
App: Yes
What can be used to sign up?
Yes
Phone
No
Third-party account
No
What data does the company collect?
Personal
Email, phone number, gender, date of birth,
Body related
Heart rate, movement, sleep data, blood oxygen levels, menstrual cycle, voice, and more
Social
How does the company use this data?
How can you control your data?
What is the company’s known track record of protecting users’ data?
Researchers found that Xiaomi was secretly collecting users' data during private browsing sessions.
Can this product be used offline?
User-friendly privacy information?
Links to privacy information
Does this product meet our Minimum Security Standards?
Encryption
Strong password
Security updates
Manages vulnerabilities
Xiaomi has a bug bounty program, which means that anyone who finds a security issue and discloses it responsibly may get paid. https://hackerone.com/xiaomi?type=team
Privacy policy
The privacy policy linked from the webpage only applies to the website. The product privacy policy was finally found on their help pages.
Does the product use AI?
Is this AI untrustworthy?
What kind of decisions does the AI make about you or for you?
Is the company transparent about how the AI works?
Does the user have control over the AI features?
Dive Deeper
-
Xiaomi, accused of tracking 'private' phone use, defends data practicesCarrie Mihalcik and Laura Hautala
-
Exclusive: Warning Over Chinese Mobile Giant Xiaomi Recording Millions Of People’s ‘Private’ Web And Phone UseThomas Brewster
Comments
Got a comment? Let us hear it.