Huawei Watch Kids 4 Pro

Uhg, this smart watch for kids does not seem good for privacy at all. It currently receives all the privacy dings we can give it -- for how they use your data, for how you can control (or not) your data, and for their bad track record at protecting and respecting their users’ privacy.

Huawei’s privacy policy says they can collect a whole lot of data on their users, including data from third party sources they describe as “public or legitimate commercial sources.” This means they can collect data on you from social media accounts, or potentially even data brokers. That’s on top of all this device can collect such as name, email address, mobile number, location, contacts, body-related information and more. Add to that the body-related data it can also collect like activity and sleep and, yeah, it’s collecting a lot of data.

And when it comes to protecting all that child personal information, well, Huawei does have a rather hard-to-read children’s privacy protection statement that any parent who buys this smartwatch for their kid should take a look at. In fact, the privacy statement even says, “Children must ask their guardians to carefully read this Statement and seek permission or guidance from their guardians before using our products or services or providing information to us,” which is some next-level pushing the responsibility for privacy off on the consumer from the company if you ask us.

If you do read that statement, you’ll see that Huawei says that child accounts are required for children under 14 (or the legal privacy age in your country) and that they have a “child mode” for kids accounts. The good news is, Huawei promises to “automatically disable personalized ads and direct marketing features and provide content that is appropriate for children when use by a child is detected.” And, they require two-factor authentication to help protect your kids' data. The bad news is, they also say “we may also collect and use other personal information of the child” for purposes outlined in their privacy policy. Those purposes are pretty broad, as is potentially their sharing among their business affiliates, partners, third party service providers, and even public or government authorities.

Another thing to note, especially for consumers in the US and some European countries. Huawei's 5G technology is blocked in the US, as the company is labeled a national security threat in the country. Many other countries have issued bans on some of Huawei’s technology too. What does that mean for Huawei's smart watches that are still popular in Europe and elsewhere around the world? For us, it raises some serious privacy questions.

And while China has recently put in place a sweeping new privacy protection law, there are questions about how much access the Chinese government has to personal information collected and stored within China. All in all, it seems to us there are safer options for smart watches for kids when it comes to protecting your privacy and security. What’s the worst that could happen with a 9-point AI location tracking, HD-video capturing, microphone included smart watch designed for kids ages 4 and up? Well, here’s hoping that front-facing camera on the watch is never compromised because having your kid spied on by a very bad person is about as creepy as it gets.

One final consideration. This device tracks the location, activity, and has a camera and microphone built-in. Parents should ask themselves, is the information this smartwatch for kids collects something I want gathered and potentially accessible to others if there were a data leak or security vulnerability? Also, we think there is a good question to be raised about teaching young children that this level of digital surveillance in their lives is OK. Maybe we should track kids a little bit less, and teach them constant surveillance isn’t a good thing?