Children's Smart Watches Inducing Kids with Voice Prompts? Parents Outraged!

“Little friend

Please scan the QR code with your parents’ phone

to activate the watch ringtone VIP”

A voice prompt from a children’s smart watch

has raised concerns among many parents

They believe

this may induce minors to spend money

On December 1

A staff member from the smart children’s watch manufacturer

responded to a reporter from Jimu News

This prompt is from a third-party music software

with built-in voice prompts

They have communicated with the software provider

requesting to stop this voice prompt

Video screenshot

According to reports, on November 28, a parent from Handan, Hebei, Mr. Li, stated that he bought awatch phone for his child mainly for locating the child’s position and facilitating contact with family. Unexpectedly, just a few days ago, the child suddenly insisted on using Mr. Li’sphoneto scan the QR code to listen to music, leading to the scene in the video.

In the video, Mr. Li holds the child’s phone watch, opens a certain music app, and the watch emits the voice: “Little friend, please scan your parents’ phone QR code to activate the watch ringtone VIP.” This voice prompt made Mr. Li very angry,as he repeatedly reminded his child not to scan QR codes for purchases.

Video screenshot

Jimu News reporters learned that the manufacturer of the children’s smart watch described by Mr. Li is Shenzhen Chuangyichuang Technology Co., Ltd. On December 1, a company staff member responded to Jimu News reporters, stating that the watch comes with music software pre-installed, “We only produce hardware, and we must install some software for the watch to function properly.” Thewatch’s software is third-party music software, which includes free music ringtones as well as paid music.

Jimu News reporters noted that

many parents online expressed that

many children’s smart watches on the market

have voice prompts that induce children to spend money

Some parents also stated that

regardless of the brand of the watch

as long as the relevant software is installed

the same consumption prompts will appear

Regarding whether the watch is suspected of inducing minors to spend money, the aforementioned staff member stated that the voice prompt is indeed inappropriate, and they have communicated this matter with the software provider, who has stated that they have stopped this voice prompt. “If this music software does not stop this voice prompt in the future, we will also choose to remove this software from our products,” the staff member said.

Jimu News reporters noted that the issue of children’s smart watches inducing minors to spend money has been widely discussed. Earlier this year, some parents reported that the Xiaotiancai phone watch contained game apps that induced minors to spend money, leading to joint discussions with consumer associations in multiple regions. Subsequently, Xiaotiancai Company implemented five rectification measures, including “immediate removal of applications that contain problematic content, and applications with inappropriate content will never be listed again.”