Before you buy a smartwatch or smart ring, consider what you're giving up

Our modern smartwatches and smart rings go far beyond counting steps, constantly collecting data on fitness, sleep, fertility and more, then uploading that information to an app. This widespread adoption raises fresh questions about data privacy, security and who actually owns all of that health data — you or the company collecting it.

The more data we collect, the greater the risk of a breach or of companies selling that data to third parties for marketing, insurance profiling or other purposes you may not realize you are opting into. Over 20 states have passed comprehensive data privacy laws that generally give consumers rights to access, delete and opt out of the sale of personal information, but those laws vary and, without federal regulation, what remains is a patchwork quilt.

More than 560 million people worldwide now own smartwatches, including more than 1 in 4 Americans.

United States

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