Introduction

The Anio Two WLAN Touch is a German children’s smartwatch that has been put through its paces in our comparison test with five other models from different manufacturers. In addition to nearly common features such as location history and geofencing including messaging, the Anio watch also monitors health values and allows voice messages to be sent to other linked Anio watches.

App checked

The source code of the Anio App is obfuscated and makes reverse engineering of the app functionality very difficult. On the basis of the libraries used, it was possible to draw conclusions about the origin of the watch and app. Both come from China and are offered by an OEM manufacturer.

Online communication

Most of the Internet communication takes place via unencrypted channels. Anio relies on the encryption of the payload, as we saw for example with Philips Hue. However, since no packet encryption is used, the connections are not protected against man-in-the-middle attacks. Furthermore, parts of the transferred data could also be read.

Unencrypted communication
Unencrypted communication

The watch can also be controlled via SMS. According to the manual, for example, it is possible to query the location, reset or switch off the clock. Since the sequence of digits, which must be transmitted as a password, cannot be changed according to our information, it is important to keep the telephone number of the children’s watch secret: Filters that prevent numbers from calling, that are not entered in the phone book do not work with SMS requests.

Clear Privacy information

The privacy policy of Anio is written in an understandable way and clearly informs about the purpose for which the recorded data will be stored. Location history data is stored for a maximum of 2 weeks. Recorded, anonymous data is used only to ensure error-free service operation. The privacy policy also states that the above-mentioned SMS password should be changed with the help of the manual. Unfortunately, there is no indication of this in the included manual.

The Android app is limited to comparatively few permissions:

Android app permissions
Android app permissions

Conclusion

The Anio children’s watch offers a good solution in terms of privacy and app security. With regard to internet communication and SMS control, however, it is advisable to make improvements in a timely manner. On the basis of these two points, it is rated with 2 out of 3 stars in our comparison test.