Report: Every fitness tracker but Apple's is a privacy nightmare


Aaron Sankin for The Daily Dot:

Entitled "Every Step You Fake: A Comparative Analysis of Fitness Tracker Privacy and Security," the report is a collaboration between Canadian privacy watchdog Open Effect and the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab. The teams looked at eight wearables: Apple Watch, Basis Peak, Fitbit Charge HR, Garmin Vivismart, Jawbone Up 2, Mio Fuse, Withings Pulse O2, and Xaomi Mi Band.

The study found that, in every case save for the Apple device, the wearables emitted a unique Bluetooth identifier that allowed a third-party to track the device's movement over time if the device was not actively paired with another device.

The Apple Watch randomizes its identifier, which makes tracking its users more difficult.

The study also found that it's possible to alter or delete data on devices. There were no vulnerabilities found in the Apple Watch security.