Warning: *Privacy Not Included with this product
Mi Band 6
Mi—owned by Beijing-based Xiaomi—offers the Mi Band 6 as a lower cost health and fitness tracker. It tracks what most fitness trackers track--heart rate, sleep, stress, steps, calories, menstrual cycles, and more. Should you trust it? Xiaomi, the parent company of Mi, was recently caught secretly collecting data on some users, so buyer beware.
What could happen if something goes wrong?
Things got a little confusing for us while reviewing the Mi Band 6. The company that sells the Mi Band is Chinese tech giant Xiaomi. It seems the company that may make the device technology is Huami, which also makes the Amazfit fitness trackers. The privacy policy on the Mi website links to a Xiaomi privacy policy. When we spoke with representatives from Mi, they told us their Mi Band 6 had a device-specific privacy policy and shared a pdf with us of a privacy policy from Huami, one we couldn’t find anywhere publicly online. The company says users can only access the privacy policy once they've downloaded the app. Oh, and recently Huami changed its name to Zepp Health Corp. As we said, it’s all very confusing.
What we do know is, Xiaomi--the company behind the Mi Band-- came under fire in 2020 when researchers reportedly found they were secretly collecting users' data during private web browsing and phone use. According to the Xiaomi privacy policy, the company does not sell personal information to third parties. They say they may share personal information with Xiaomi affiliates and the Mi Ecosystem. They also share personal information with third parties for marketing purposes. According to the Huami privacy policy the representatives from Mi shared with us, they can also share personal information with Huami-affiliated companies and with third parties for advertising and other purposes.
All in all, it seems to us a lot of personal information may be shared with any number of affiliate companies in the Xiaomi, Mi, Huami ecosystem. And we found it very odd they provided us with a pdf of a privacy policy for the device that we were unable to find publicly available online. Consumers should be able to read a product's privacy policy before buying the product or downloading the app. What’s the worst that could happen? Well, this device collects a lot of personal information and we can’t exactly tell where all that personal information is going in the confusing world of privacy policies we reviewed. That’s not good for consumers at all.
Tips to protect yourself
- Be very careful who you chose to share your wellness data with.
- Don't connect your app to any social networks like Facebook.
- Minimize volumes of data collected about you by an app
- Use two-factor authentication
Can it snoop on me?
Camera
Device: No
App: Yes
Microphone
Device: No
App: Yes
Tracks location
Device: No
App: Yes
What can be used to sign up?
Yes
Phone
Yes
Third-party account
Yes
What data does the company collect?
Personal
Name, email, phone number, gender
Body related
Exercise information (such as targets set, targets met, swimming times), heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, weight, movement, sleep data, menstrual cycle, and more
Social
How does the company use this data?
How can you control your data?
What is the company’s known track record of protecting users’ data?
Speaking to Forbes in early 2020, security researchers Gabriel Cirlig and Andrew Tierney claimed that Xiaomi’s mobile web browsers collect an inordinate amount of data even in incognito mode. This allegedly included all URLs and search queries made in the stock MIUI browser, Mi Browser Pro, and Mint Browser. Combined, these browsers have more than 15 million downloads on the Google Play Store.
Can this product be used offline?
User-friendly privacy information?
Xiaomi provides the IoT privacy white paper.
Links to privacy information
Does this product meet our Minimum Security Standards?
Encryption
Strong password
Security updates
Manages vulnerabilities
Xiaomi runs a vulnerability disclosure process via https://trust.mi.com/misrc/bulletins
Privacy policy
Does the product use AI?
You can connect the band to Alexa
Is this AI untrustworthy?
What kind of decisions does the AI make about you or for you?
Is the company transparent about how the AI works?
Does the user have control over the AI features?
Dive Deeper
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Exclusive: Warning Over Chinese Mobile Giant Xiaomi Recording Millions Of People’s ‘Private’ Web And Phone UseThomas Brewster
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Is selling your privacy for a cheaper phone really a good idea?Android Authority
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Ignore China’s New Data Privacy Law at Your PerilWired
Comments
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