Samsung Galaxy Buds+
Review date: 11/02/2020
Tiny earbuds in five shiny colors. They do the things earbuds do: sound good, cancel noise, let in ambient noise if you want, last up to 22 hours, pair with a phone or computer over Bluetooth, get lost easily. You can use the Find My Earbuds feature in the app to help find them, but only if they are already connected to your phone so don't lose these little guys if their battery is dead or you're more than 32 feet away.
What could happen if something goes wrong
These headphones come with a voice assistant name Bixby that will listen for your voice commands. Samsung says they may use your interactions with Bixby to learn more about you and then target you with adds or share this data with others who may use it to target you. That means it's possible you could ask Bixby to play lots of sappy, love songs over and over. Marketers could use this information to target you with ads for very expensive engagement rings. Love sick you spends way too much money on a ring for your significant other and you get turned down leaving your poor and heart broken. 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: No
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
Voice recordings
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
