Recently, in CCTV's " Weekly Quality Report " program, a relevant person in charge of the Jiangsu Provincial Consumer Rights Protection Committee said that in combination with the complaints and public opinion data since 2022, the consumption of children's smart watches mainly has the following problems. First, the quality is uneven, suspected of false publicity, and difficulty in after-sales maintenance. Second, there are information security risks. Third, there are problems of illegal deductions and inducing children to consume. Fourth, the platform supervision is not in place, some built-in games are bloody and violent, and some comic content is not suitable for children.
In recent years, with the rapid growth of parents' demand for children's travel safety and contact, the children's watch market not only soared in scale, but also has a wide range of products and models, with prices ranging from more than 100 yuan to more than 2,000 yuan. But product quality problems are becoming increasingly prominent. The survey report shows that nearly half of consumers expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of children's smartwatches. Among them, more than 20% of consumers encounter inaccurate positioning problems, more than 40% of consumers say that the signals of the purchased products are unstable and the call quality is poor. Nearly 30% of consumers believe that the complexity of the content of children's smart watches is likely to affect children's mental health. In addition to general quality issues, consumers generally expressed concern about the leakage of personal information.
From the technical level of the product, children's quality watches are equivalent to mobile terminal devices that can position, telephone and video. Positioning and communication are the core functions of children's smart watches, and they are also the main needs of many parents to buy smart watches for their children. More than half of consumers buy or plan to buy children's smartwatches to facilitate contact and confirm the child's location.
But in fact, data shows that 22% of consumers said that the children's smartwatches they purchased were inaccurate. 43.11% of consumers said that the signal of the purchased product is unstable and the call quality is poor. At the same time, because children's smartwatches are usually directly in contact with the skin and worn for a long time, the safety of their shell and strap materials is also attracting much attention from parents. For example, some children's smart watches have a strong smell, paint loss on the shell, and no markings on the material, which has caused parents to worry about their children's personal safety. Nearly half of consumers suggest that manufacturers should further improve the material safety of children's smartwatches.
In addition to basic functions, children's smart watches also tend to be adult, such as games, entertainment and payment functions. Through the software with exquisite pictures, minors can be induced to consume. Some game software even has problems such as repeated deductions and multiple deductions. Children are easily attracted by advertising push or game content when using it, and even make large recharges and consumption. There are a large number of apps that interfere with children's learning in children. You can play online games and send red envelopes to each other. Some even take photos and search questions directly. Some game apps involve violence, blood, crime, etc., and comic apps are full of pornographic and unethical content, which can easily induce minors to imitate illegal and criminal behaviors, resulting in adverse consequences.
In terms of information security that parents are most concerned about, children's smart watches also have obvious hidden dangers. The most common problem of information security risks is privacy leakage. CCTV 3˙15 Gala in 2022 also exposed a loophole in many security information of children's smart watches. Malicious programs implanted in children's phone watches can easily and uninterruptedly obtain children's location, face images, recordings and other personal privacy information. Once hacked by malware, it becomes a walking eavesdropper.
In order to better standardize the quality and safety of children's smart watches, in May 2022, the State Administration for Market Regulation and the National Standards Committee approved the issuance of the national standard for "Children's Watches", which will be implemented from November 1, 2022. This standard promptly resolves consumers' concerns about the quality of children's watch products. my country's national standard for "Children's Watches" is the world's first children's watch standard. The technical content fully considers the hot issues of social concern and the actual situation of market products. This standard fills the gap in domestic children's watch product standards.
Before the formulation and release of the national standards for "Children's Watch", the standards for children's watches have been blank, and there are also irregularities in production, sales, after-sales and other links.The formulation and implementation of the new standards provide strong technical support for product design, production, inspection, trade and market supervision.
"Children's Watch" national standards clearly state that children's watches are mainly divided into two categories: children's quartz watches and children's smart watches. Children's quartz watch can be divided into pointer children's quartz watch, LCD children's quartz watch, pointer, LCD digital children's quartz watch. Applicable groups are children aged 3 to 14 years old. The standard specifies some technical requirements for children's watches such as time travel, waterproof, shockproof, anti-static, chemical performance, and small parts. It puts forward comprehensive and detailed requirements for the static positioning, calling, electromagnetic radiation, , information security, battery safety, charging safety, and wearable temperature.
In order to reduce the information security risks of children's smart watches in use and protect personal information security , the standard stipulates system upgrade functions, identity authentication, access control, security audit and personal information protection. In terms of information security, the standard provides a special normative appendix, which includes issues such as illegal eavesdropping of watches, leakage of personal information, low system version, forced request for permissions, and illegal access control. In addition, the standards require that children's watches should support updating and upgrading the operating system to deal with risk vulnerabilities that occur at any time. In addition to providing detailed provisions on static positioning, call requirements, electromagnetic radiation, information security, battery and charging safety, wear safety temperature, standby time, etc. based on the characteristics of children's smart watch products, the
standard also regulates the basic indicators such as waterproof, shockproof, and anti-static of children's watches.
source: Consumer Guide Magazine
The formulation and implementation of the new standards provide strong technical support for product design, production, inspection, trade and market supervision."Children's Watch" national standards clearly state that children's watches are mainly divided into two categories: children's quartz watches and children's smart watches. Children's quartz watch can be divided into pointer children's quartz watch, LCD children's quartz watch, pointer, LCD digital children's quartz watch. Applicable groups are children aged 3 to 14 years old. The standard specifies some technical requirements for children's watches such as time travel, waterproof, shockproof, anti-static, chemical performance, and small parts. It puts forward comprehensive and detailed requirements for the static positioning, calling, electromagnetic radiation, , information security, battery safety, charging safety, and wearable temperature.
In order to reduce the information security risks of children's smart watches in use and protect personal information security , the standard stipulates system upgrade functions, identity authentication, access control, security audit and personal information protection. In terms of information security, the standard provides a special normative appendix, which includes issues such as illegal eavesdropping of watches, leakage of personal information, low system version, forced request for permissions, and illegal access control. In addition, the standards require that children's watches should support updating and upgrading the operating system to deal with risk vulnerabilities that occur at any time. In addition to providing detailed provisions on static positioning, call requirements, electromagnetic radiation, information security, battery and charging safety, wear safety temperature, standby time, etc. based on the characteristics of children's smart watch products, the
standard also regulates the basic indicators such as waterproof, shockproof, and anti-static of children's watches.
source: Consumer Guide Magazine
