Garmin Index Smart Scale
Let's be honest, tracking all those steps with a fitness wearable is nice. Seeing the benefits of all those steps when you take that step onto the scale is much nicer. Garmin's "smart scale with connected features" gives you a way to bring all those metrics — weight, body mass index, body fat, skeletal muscle mass and more — together. Pair up this WiFi and Bluetooth connected scale with the same app your Garmin fitness tracker uses and you've got all your fitness and body info right there in one place. Now get stepping.
What could happen if something goes wrong?
Garmin seems to do a good job handling the privacy and security of all the personal data this smart scale collects. They did suffer that very public ransomware attack in 2020. Ransomware attacks suck and it seems no company is safe from them these days.
Garmin says they don’t sell your personal data to anyone. This is great. Garmin also seems to do a good job with what data they do share, which doesn’t seem to be too much. They ask for explicit consent before sharing things like wellness data with third party wellness companies and emails for marketing.
Garmin may share or sell de-identified aggregate data collected by the Garmin Connect app with third parties to do things like make their features better or for research purposes. This doesn’t worry us too much. Although now is a good time to remind you that it’s been found to be pretty easy to de-anonymize some types of data and track down an individual’s patterns, especially with location data. If you’re worried about this, you can opt out of using the Garmin Connect app to keep track of all the cool things it keeps track of. Which could be a bummer, but hey, also more private.
Tips to protect yourself
- Be very carefull who you chose to share your Garmin wellness data with.
- Adjust your privacy settings in the Garmin Connect app to suit your comfort level.
- Don't connect your Garmin app to any social networks like Facebook.
Can it snoop on me?
Camera
Device: No
App: Yes
Microphone
Device: No
App: No
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, email address, gender (optional), age (optional), date of birth (optional), photos (optional), location
Body related
Weight
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?
No known incidents in the last 3 years.
Can this product be used offline?
User-friendly privacy information?
Links to privacy information
Does this product meet our Minimum Security Standards?
Encryption
Garmin devices and apps use a combination of asymmetric and symmetric encryption appropriate to the nature and function of the product, and data stored/transmitted.
Strong password
In order to use companion apps, an account with a strong password is required.
Security updates
Manages vulnerabilities
Privacy policy
Does the product use AI?
Garmin uses Machine Learning (ML) to provide personalized insights to customers who wish to receive them as they pursue their fitness and wellness goals.
Is this AI untrustworthy?
What kind of decisions does the AI make about you or for you?
Garmin says in their privacy policy, "Garmin does not make any decisions based on algorithms or other automated processing that significantly affect you."
Comments
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