Motivating kids to move these days has come to this -- fitness trackers for the 6 and up crowd. Fitbit's wearable tracker for kids comes with activity and sleep tracking, 5-days of battery life, and a way for kids to customize the face. Parents get parental controls where they can track their kids activity and approve connections with friends, set-up goals and rewards for activity, and encourage competition between their siblings. Gone are the days of Dad yelling at you to get off your lazy butt and go outside! Now there's a device for that.
What could happen if something goes wrong?
Fitbit does appear to take privacy and security seriously. They meet our Minimum Security Standards and Fitbit says they take extra privacy considerations for children including more limited data collection. However, the device tracks the activity and sleep of a child. Parents should ask themselves, is this information I want gathered and potentially accessible to others about my child? Also, there is a good question to be raised about teaching young children that this level of digital surveillance in their lives is OK. One more consideration. Google is in the process of buying Fitbit. What does that mean? We don't know quite yet, but it does seem that all that sensitive data Fitbit collects may be owned by Google, a company that likes to have as much data on people as possible.
Can it snoop on me?
Camera
Device: No
App: Yes
Microphone
Device: No
App: Yes
Tracks location
Device: No
App: Yes
What can be used to sign up?
Yes
Phone
No
Third-party account
No
What data does the company collect?
Personal
Name, date of birth, gender, height, weight, photo (optional)
Body related
Height, weight, steps, active minutes, and hours of sleep.
Social
Fitbit connections
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?
No known incidents in the last 2 years.
Can this product be used offline?
User-friendly privacy information?
Links to privacy information
Does this product meet our Minimum Security Standards?
Encryption
Fitbit protects data sent between your device and the Fitbit app with strong encryption, using at least AES-128 and secure protocols such as TLS and DTLS.
Strong password
Fitbit devices work by being paired to a Fitbit account via the Fitbit mobile application. To create a Fitbit account, users are required to provide strong, complex, passwords during onboarding.
Security updates
Updates are pushed automatically when you pair your device with the app.
Manages vulnerabilities
Fitbit has a bug bounty program, which means that anyone who finds a security issue and discloses it responsibly may get paid.
Privacy policy
Does it have a privacy policy?
Does the product use AI?
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