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As parents, do you disable certain functions of children’s smart watches?
Children’s smart watches are almost ubiquitous among the youth, alleviating the safety anxiety of modern parents. However, the increasing functionalities of these watches, including positioning, social networking, photography, entertainment, and payment, raise concerns among parents about potential negative impacts on their children. On May 14, the Technology Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology publicly solicited opinions on the “Safety Technical Requirements for Children’s Watches” mandatory national standard (draft for comments).
This draft outlines specific requirements regarding network security and prevention of internet addiction, including that children’s smart watches should not come pre-installed with applications that have entertainment-oriented functions such as games and novels.
So, what are the main functions of children’s smart watches currently available on the market? How should parents rationally choose them?
01.
The Market Penetration Rate of Children’s Smart Watches Reaches 30%
The draft defines “children’s watches” and “children’s smart watches” separately. Children’s watches refer to watches designed for children aged 3 to under 14, while children’s smart watches are those equipped with information processing functions such as calling and positioning, meeting specific needs of children. Thus, the children’s watches widely used in schools, which have positioning and communication functions, fall under the category of children’s smart watches.
According to the “2022-2027 China Children’s Smart Watch Industry In-Depth Research and Investment Prospect Forecast Report” released by the China Industry Research Institute, there are approximately 170 million children aged 5 to 12 in China, and the market penetration rate of children’s smart watches has reached 30%, meaning one in three children owns a smart watch. Among urban children, the penetration rate even exceeds 50%.
According to the “Wearable Smart Watches: A Billion-Level Track for Healthy Living” report by the Head Leopard Research Institute, the increasing demand for children’s safety is another significant driving force behind the growth of the smart watch market. With the built-in precise positioning function, parents can keep track of their children’s whereabouts in real-time. Smart watches, as a preventive measure, significantly enhance children’s safety. This demand translates into a substantial market demand for children’s smart watches.
It is undeniable that children’s smart watches alleviate the safety anxiety of modern parents to some extent.
A parent from Zhanjiang, Ms. Huang, told reporters from “Consumer Reports” that children’s smart watches have indeed eased some of her safety concerns. “Before I bought my child a smart watch, I was unsure about their situation at school and felt a bit worried. Now, I can see their location and watch usage on my phone, and they also use the watch to contact me for pick-up after school.”
However, Ms. Huang is not very confident about the entertainment functions on children’s smart watches, so she disabled some entertainment apps on the watch through her phone and set restrictions during class hours. She stated that there are dozens to hundreds of apps available for download on children’s smart watches, including voice, game, and video apps, which could lead to children becoming addicted.
A parent from Guangzhou, Ms. Xiang, also expressed to reporters that since her child started using the smart watch, they chat with friends every day and even use various codes to avoid parents understanding their conversations. She is also concerned that the functions of children’s smart watches are becoming increasingly similar to those of smartphones, which could affect her child’s healthy development.
02.
Entertainment Apps VS Disabled Functions
What are the main functions of children’s watches currently? Are they all necessary?
To explore these questions, reporters from “Consumer Reports” compiled the main selling points or functions of six popular children’s smart watches on the market.
The results show that these children’s smart watches all have basic communication and positioning functions, such as contacts, video calls, and positioning.
Many children’s smart watches also include numerous entertainment-oriented apps or functions beyond these basic features, such as chatting, smart assistants, audiobooks, and rich watch faces.
Children’s smart watches are increasingly upgraded and updated, integrating functions like photography, password-free payments, health monitoring, learning assistance, social interaction, and app downloads, many of which are common in smartphones.
It is worth mentioning that all children’s smart watches currently on the market have corresponding disabling or reminder functions, allowing parents to disable or set reminders based on time periods, application types, and geographical locations, which can be configured or controlled through the corresponding mobile app.
▲Parents can limit the functions of children’s watches through the corresponding mobile app
For example, with the Xiaotiancai children’s smart watch, parents can download the Xiaotiancai app on their phones and use the “School Guardian,” “Holiday Guardian,” “Class Disable,” and “App Disable” functions to restrict the usage of various apps on the watch.
Regarding the issue of excessive entertainment on built-in apps of children’s smart watches, 360 customer service once responded to “Consumer Reports” stating: “The increasing richness of functions in children’s watch products is an inevitable trend in the development of this industry. However, whether the various functions on the watch are positive and meet the normal needs of children is indeed lacking regulation in the industry. Therefore, we have made many optimizations in response to parents’ concerns, allowing management of watch usage through the app.” 360 customer service informed our reporters that management can be done by disabling individual applications, class restrictions, managing application usage time, and setting super power-saving modes.
“Consumer Reports” suggests that parents limit the use of more entertainment-oriented apps based on their children’s actual usage of the watch.
03.
The National Standard for Children’s Smart Watches is Coming
On May 14 of this year, the Technology Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology publicly solicited opinions on the “Safety Technical Requirements for Children’s Watches” mandatory national standard (draft for comments).
For children’s smart watches, this draft outlines specific requirements regarding battery safety, prevention of internet addiction, and more, including that parental consent must be obtained when enabling payment functions for children’s smart watches for the first time.
Notably, the “network security” section of this draft stipulates that children’s smart watches should not come pre-installed with applications that have entertainment-oriented functions such as games and novels; children’s smart watches and their pre-installed applications should not display opening advertisements; and if applications contain advertisements, a prominent close button or channel should be provided.
This draft further divides the “network security” regulations into information security, data security, personal information protection, and content security.
Among them, information security requires ensuring product safety from six aspects, mandating that watches have security management mechanisms for applications or installation programs, capable of identifying and preventing malicious programs from being pre-installed or installed. Data security and personal information protection require ensuring product safety from eight aspects, proposing that children’s smart watches should establish specific rules for processing children’s personal information and publicly display them on the operating system or management interface of the children’s smart watch, and that the watch should not default to granting applications access to microphone, camera, positioning, and other permissions.
▲Directory of the “Safety Technical Requirements for Children’s Watches” mandatory national standard (draft for comments)
To further gather opinions from all sectors of society, the Technology Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has publicly announced the draft for comments and the compilation instructions (attachment). The attachment’s “National Standard Compilation Instructions” states that the regulations in the network security section consider the high consumer concern regarding information security in children’s smart watches, as there are potential risks of illegal eavesdropping and information leakage.
The aforementioned compilation instructions mention that according to risk monitoring conducted by the State Administration for Market Regulation from 2015 to 2017, 17 out of 40 batches of samples had information security vulnerabilities, with a non-compliance rate of 42.5%. Additionally, in 2024, there were several serious product quality risk issues, such as errors in AI Q&A content. Therefore, the standard imposes requirements for information security, data security, personal information protection, and content security for children’s watches.
Senior home appliance industry analyst Liang Zhenpeng told reporters from “Consumer Reports” that the “Safety Technical Requirements for Children’s Watches” mandatory national standard (draft for comments) addresses common issues and security vulnerabilities in children’s watches, such as vulnerabilities in network security that can easily leak user privacy.
Liang Zhenpeng believes that the introduction of this standard (draft for comments) is beneficial for the unification of technical standards in the children’s smart watch industry, promoting healthy development in the industry, positively impacting market regulation, and enhancing the safety, quality, and performance of children’s smart watches.
“It is worth noting that this standard (draft for comments) is not a recommended standard but a mandatory national standard, which companies must adhere to in production and sales, carrying strong constraints. Some factories or brands with excessively low production costs may be eliminated from the market,” Liang Zhenpeng stated.
04.
Suggestions for Purchasing Children’s Smart Watches
(1) Look for “CCC” and “CMIIT ID” certification marks. Check if the product packaging indicates the mandatory product certification (CCC) mark, internet access license number, and radio transmission equipment model approval number (CMIIT).
(2) Pay attention to material safety. Children’s smart watches are typically worn for long periods and come into direct contact with the skin, so the safety of the materials is a major concern for parents. It is recommended that parents choose children’s watches with straps made of silicone or TPU soft rubber, which are soft, elastic, and comfortable to wear.
(3) Be mindful of waterproofing. Parents should remind children to pay attention to waterproofing while wearing and using the watch. Even if the watch claims to support a high level of waterproofing, it should not be worn while swimming or bathing, and it should be dried promptly if it gets wet. “Consumer Reports” consulted customer service regarding waterproofing issues and was informed that water damage is not covered under warranty.
(4) Try to choose products from well-known brands or mainstream models. Well-known manufacturers can provide guarantees for product quality and information security. Some unbranded watches not only pose quality and safety issues but may also lead to information leakage, and third-party applications may not be regulated, making it difficult for parents to ensure their children’s safety. Mainstream model products also facilitate social interactions among children in schools.
(5) Consumers can choose based on their budget and actual usage. Mid to high-end watches focus on multiple functions to meet various needs, while entry-level watches emphasize core functions such as calling, positioning, and video, with a more focused feature set.
Author: Zhang Derong
WeChat Editor: Peng Tenghuan
Editor: Xiao Dao
Illustrators: Judy Chen, Julia
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