Watch/Tracker Safety

What watch/tracker safety is, who it affects, and what a child should learn — a free entry from the Digital Guardians Threat Dictionary.

Target age range: Recommended for: School-age children, roughly 5–12 years old, who may use child-oriented smart watches or GPS trackers. This age range often includes kids not yet ready for smartphones but old enough to benefit from devices like a smart watch for communication or a tracker for safety. The guidelines also apply to younger teens (13–15) who might wear fitness bands or Apple Watches, though older teens typically have more mature devices (smartphones) and should already have foundational digital literacy. In essence, elementary and middle schoolers are the focus – kids gaining independence (walking to school, playing sports, going to friends’ houses) where parents might use a watch or tracker to keep tabs on them. Adapt language and strictness based on age: e.g., a 6-year-old needs very tight controls and lots of guidance, whereas a 12-year-old can handle more responsibility (like managing some watch settings under supervision).

Threat definition

Smart watches and trackers for kids come with a unique set of threats. On one hand, a child’s GPS watch or tracker is meant to keep them safe by allowing parents to know their location. On the other hand, these same features can pose privacy and security risks if misused. Major threats include:

The Scale of the Threat

The safety feature itself can be hijacked: security researchers found hackers could track a child’s GPS location in 5 out of 6 tested kids’ watch models, and several brands lacked encryption — in one case a smartwatch model was recalled from the market by regulators.

UNAUTHORIZED CONTACT

Many kids’ smart watches allow calls or texts. If not properly secured, strangers or predators could contact the child through the watch (e.g., by obtaining the watch’s phone number or hacking the messaging app). This could lead to grooming attempts or the child being tricked by someone pretending to be a parent or friend.

LOCATION TRACKING BY BAD ACTORS

The GPS in a child’s device is supposed to help parents, but if hacked, it can help stalkers or abductors locate the child in real-time. Unfortunately, studies have found that some children’s smart watches have serious security flaws – hackers could track a child’s GPS location in 5 out of 6 tested watch models, essentially hijacking the safety feature for malicious use.

EAVESDROPPING AND SURVEILLANCE

Poorly secured wearables can be turned into spying devices. For instance, hackers might exploit vulnerabilities to activate the watch’s microphone remotely, listening in on the child’s conversations and surroundings. Some watches even had flaws where hackers could send a command that makes the watch call them silently, turning it into a wiretap.

DATA BREACHES AND PRIVACY LEAKS

The personal data these devices collect (child’s name, location history, contacts, health data like heart rate, etc.) might be stored on company servers. If the company doesn’t secure that data, hackers could steal it. Past analyses revealed that several kids’ smartwatch brands lacked encryption, meaning data was transmitted in plain text over the internet. In one case, a consumer protection agency found such alarming issues that an entire smartwatch model was recalled from the market by regulators.

UNWANTED TRACKING DEVICES (PHYSICAL TRACKERS)

Tiny trackers (like Apple AirTags, Tiles, etc.) can be slipped into a child’s backpack or coat by someone else without their knowledge. This is a newer threat: people have used AirTags to secretly stalk others by tracking their movements. A malicious person could drop a coin-sized tracker into a child’s belongings and follow the child’s location remotely. While Apple and others have introduced anti-stalking alerts (e.g., iPhones will notify if an unknown AirTag is traveling with you), those measures aren’t foolproof or immediate. The tracker might still go undetected for hours, which in a kidnapping scenario is critical time. For Android users, detection is even harder (they’d have to use a special app to scan for AirTags). In short, physical trackers can turn the safety technology against its intended purpose.

FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY

This is more of a conceptual threat – both parents and kids might rely too heavily on the device, assuming it guarantees safety. A watch’s battery could die or it might lose signal, leaving a child unconnected when they actually need help. If a parent assumes “I always know where my child is because of the tracker,” they might be less attentive in other ways. Similarly, a child might take extra risks thinking “it’s okay, I have my SOS button.” Over-reliance can create blind spots.

PHYSICAL SAFETY AND MISUSE

Some watches have features like cameras or voice chats which could be misused for bullying (e.g., a child secretly recording peers at school) or distraction (texting on the watch during class or while crossing the street, which can be dangerous). There’s also a minor threat of the device itself – if a watch is bulky or not used properly, it could cause injury (rare, but for example a kid focusing on their watch screen could trip).

While wearables like smart watches can be powerful safety tools, they can also open new avenues for digital intrusion into a child’s life. The threats span from online (hackers, predators) to offline (stalkers using trackers). Recognizing these threats is essential so we can put strong fences around the benefits of the technology.

The full chapter is in Pillar 3: Device, App & Network Protection and the Complete Edition.