Samsung Galaxy Active 2
Review date: 11/02/2020
Samsung says they want you to "learn more so you can achieve more." And this smart fitness watches gives you a lot to learn. It will track your running style and tell you how to run better. The golf edition claims it can help you improve your golf game. It says its ECG heart rate monitor can look for signs of Atrial Fibrillation. It can even monitor to see if you've fallen and can't get up. All that plus the standard tracking of sleep, stress, steps, calories and more. Cool! Just beware, Samsung may also want to learn more so it can achieve more by collecting and potentially selling your personal health data to consumer data resellers. That'll get your heart out of whack.
What could happen if something goes wrong
This device tracks your location, heart rate, sleep patterns, stress and more. That's a lot of personal information gathered in one place. And Samsung says they may share your data with business affiliates who make predictions about your interests and target you with ads. That means it's possible you could get have crazy insomnia and sleep terribly for a couple months, Samsung could know that and share that data with someone who will target you with ads for sleeping pills everywhere you go. You try the sleeping pills out, get addicted, and no one wants that. OK, this is probably not likely, but also not impossible in our digital ad economy.
Privacy
Can it snoop on me?
Camera
Device: No
App: No
Microphone
Device: Yes
App: No
Tracks Location
Device: Yes
App: Yes
What is required to sign up?
No
Phone
No
Third party account
No
What data does it collect?
Personal
Name, email, phone number, date of birth, gender
Biometric
Heart rate, movement, sleep data, stress, menstrual cycle, voice, and more
Social
How does it use this data?
How can you control your data?
What is the company’s known track record for protecting users’ data?
In February, 2020, Samsung had a data breach on it UK customer account pages, effecting less than 150 people.
Can this product be used offline?
User friendly privacy information?
Links to privacy information
Security
Does this product meet our Minimum Security Standards?
Encryption
Uses encryption in transit and at rest.
Strong password
Security updates
Manages vulnerabilities
Samsung has a bug bounty program, which means that anyone who finds a security issue and discloses it responsibly may get paid. https://security.samsungmobile.com/rewardsProgram.smsb
Privacy policy
Samsung has a page highlighting it's privacy principles
