Private and secure usage of smart watch / fitnesstracker

naibed

Amazfit watches are another option that are feature-heavy, inexpensive and solid compatiblity w/ GadgetBridge. I'd recommend looking for reviews on YT to get a feel for devices too

23Sha-ger

Anon6095 Because I am very privacy conscious

Anon6095 I tend to buy a Huawei

Let it sink in. Privacy and CCP owned Huawei in the same post.
Step 1) Put alarm at a specific time
Step 2) Wake up at a specific time no earlier than 6 hours from step 1
Step 3) Donate the 110€ to GOS

Reference from past, can be found on your favorite search engine:
In May 2019 a Huawei Mediapad M5 belonging to a Canadian IT engineer living in Taiwan was found to be sending data to servers in China despite never being authorized to do so. The apps could not be disabled and continued to send sensitive data even after appearing to be deleted.

Anon6095

W1zardK1ng Anon6095 Yah but the problem is most these devices ask to create an account on their app on the initial login, the app keeps collecting data and when we enable internet for the apps to update the firmware of the device it send that data to the parent company, gadget bridge is a good option but if it can update the firmware.

23Sha-ger Let it sink in. Privacy and CCP owned Huawei in the same post.

23Sha-ger Reference from past, can be found on your favorite search engine:
In May 2019 a Huawei Mediapad M5 belonging to a Canadian IT engineer living in Taiwan was found to be sending data to servers in China despite never being authorized to do so. The apps could not be disabled and continued to send sensitive data even after appearing to be deleted.

I am totally aware of this.
My initial plan was to set up the Watch and update the firmware (in my proprietary profile) on time, then uninstall the app, and reinstall it inside my main profile without network permission and never give it to the app at any time.
Because I don't have any proprietary apps inside my main profile that have network permission, IPC exfiltration would also not be an option.

But we don't need to talk about Huawei anymore, because I found out that their app always require network permission, which undermines my plan.
Therefore I will NOT by a Huawei watch.

W1zardK1ng

Anon6095 I still didn't understood how that's gonna work. Updating firmware is not a one time only task, you will have to check at least monthly once to see if there is an update available. And these apps needs you to login to your account for the initial setup whether you are creating a new account or login to an existing one. so you cant use the app without network permission at least for the initial setup time. Then the issue is with how you will check for firmware update.

basedFOSS

Anon6095 Has Anyone used an eSIM with a gadgetbridge supported watch?

Anon6095

W1zardK1ng so you cant use the app without network permission at least for the initial setup time

The initial setup isn't a problem, because at the time of the settup, the watch hasn't any data to steal.

W1zardK1ng Updating firmware is not a one time only task, you will have to check at least monthly once to see if there is an update available.

W1zardK1ng Then the issue is with how you will check for firmware update.

If the update isn't available over Gadgetbridge, then I will ignore it.

slb

Get a Garmin without wifi built-in and disable network settings for the Garmin Connect app.

You get tap payments as a bonus, and can keep the app offline indefinitely. Been running this for over a year now with no issues.

Anon6095

slb Get a Garmin without wifi built-in and disable network settings for the Garmin Connect app.

You get tap payments as a bonus, and can keep the app offline indefinitely. Been running this for over a year now with no issues.

GrouchyGrape Anon6095 I've bought several Garmin Fenix series watches for less than $300 USD in new or like new condition. As long as you're ok with one a generation or two old, there are great deals out there. Look on eBay.

Can you guys recommend a particular Garmin?
I want sleep tracking, but I don't have so much money to pay.

MisterX

slb Get a Garmin without wifi built-in and disable network settings for the Garmin Connect app.

How does this work? Garmin Connect doesn't even start properly because of "no internet connection" on my phone.
I'm using this app instead https://martin-ueding.github.io/geo-activity-playground
(Only for activitys)

GrouchyGrape

Anon6095 I've bought several Garmin Fenix series watches for less than $300 USD in new or like new condition. As long as you're ok with one a generation or two old, there are great deals out there. Look on eBay.

N1b

The Pine Time is cheap, completely open source and compatible with Gadgetbridge (they even advertise it). Might not have the features you need though (e.g. vibration is really weak).

I'm also currently looking at Amazfit and Garmin devices (with the "highly supported" Gadgetbridge Tag). The idea from @naibed is solid, do some YT research and see what's best fitting your needs.

Anon6095

N1b The Pine Time is cheap, completely open source and compatible with Gadgetbridge (they even advertise it). Might not have the features you need though (e.g. vibration is really weak).

I like such projects but it seems that their lack the features I need:

Health Tracking Step Counting (with Accelerometer)
Heart rate detection

MisterX

Anon6095 Can you guys recommend a particular Garmin?
I want sleep tracking, but I don't have so much money to pay.

Instinct 2

GrouchyGrape

Anon6095 anything from the Fenix / Epix line are my preferences, but I'm fine buying them a couple generations old to save money. They're like phones. Generally speaking, a one or two year old flagship device will still be much nicer than a current gen budget or mid device. If you buy used, I recommend getting a sapphire display to avoid scratches and such.

Look around for models in your price range, then watch reviews on YouTube.

slb

Anon6095 I'm using the forerunner 165 which has Garmin pay and sleep tracking among other nice features. Check some reviews if it fits your bill.

LeslieFH

MisterX Instinct 2

This seems a particularly bad fit to GrapheneOS because it has no Garmin Pay (unless you splurge for Instinct 2 Solar), and Garmin Pay is a way to get around the "no Google Wallet" limitation :-)

Anon6095

MisterX Anon6095 Can you guys recommend a particular Garmin?
I want sleep tracking, but I don't have so much money to pay.

Instinct 2

I researched it and it seems ti have great sleep tracking:
https://www.androidauthority.com/garmin-sleep-tracking-3174562/

Can you confirm that the watch's sleep tracking also works with Gadgetbridge and/or that the official companion app doesn't require network permission?
The main thing I want to do is sleep and health tracking

slb

MisterX pair it up with networking enabled and then disable it, you'll have no issues.

02673853

Anon6095 I tend to buy a Huawei GT 4 because its matches the features I want (especially the sleep tracking), the price is ok (around 110€) and I like the design.

Don't buy a chinese spy device if you care anything about ürivacy and security

chinook

GrouchyGrape Get Fenix 6 Pro, maybe X/Solar/Sapphire if you want. I have 6 Pro and I skipped 7 and 8 so far without any regret. No significant upgrades (and actually my SO's Fenix 7 can't have alarms operated from the app?!).

(I must, however, admit I'm slightly tempted by the Instinct Crossover and Enduro 3 :))

MIP screen is brilliant for a watch, Garmin Pay works always (and offline, ie without phone present), battery life is enough, Aliexpress has plenty of spare bands.

And a nice touch: it has plenty of memory for custom maps, so I always have something similar to OpenStreetmap with me.

Instinct 2 if you prefer battery life over screen, my brother uses that and he's as happy as on the day one.

MisterX

LeslieFH This seems a particularly bad fit to GrapheneOS because it has no Garmin Pay (unless you splurge for Instinct 2 Solar), and Garmin Pay is a way to get around the "no Google Wallet" limitation :-)

Sorry I forgot that paying with a watch is the only true way to go with GOS.
My bad

Anon6095

LeslieFH This seems a particularly bad fit to GrapheneOS because it has no Garmin Pay (unless you splurge for Instinct 2 Solar), and Garmin Pay is a way to get around the "no Google Wallet" limitation :-)

Garming Pay wouldn't really work without an etwork connection its not an option for me anyway cause I want to keep the watch offline

MisterX

Anon6095 Can you confirm that the watch's sleep tracking also works with Gadgetbridge and/or that the official companion app doesn't require network permission?
The main thing I want to do is sleep and health tracking

No, I can't confirm this. For me Garmin Connect (the official Garmin app) won't start without internet connection.However the garmin app is great for sleep and health tracking.
O've only briefly tried gadget bridge and didn't liked it. The sleeping time was also different in the gadget bridge app than on my watch itself.

The watch also stores the sleep data, so when I wake up I'm using the watch to look up last nights sleep.

Anon6095

MisterX No, I can't confirm this. For me Garmin Connect (the official Garmin app) won't start without internet connection.However the garmin app is great for sleep and health tracking.
O've only briefly tried gadget bridge and didn't liked it. The sleeping time was also different in the gadget bridge app than on my watch itself.

The watch also stores the sleep data, so when I wake up I'm using the watch to look up last nights sleep.

Thank you for you statement.
I really don't get why all the companion app's (beside Gadgedbridge) require network permission:
And if Gadgetbridge displays wrong data, that its not an option either.

Anon6095

slb nah you'll need to pair with network and then disable it if you want notification sync etc.
If all the info you need is only on the watch itself, and perhaps you want to add your credit card for tap payments, you could do your method but the watch won't be properly paired with your phone anymore. It'll still track but you'll have to pull out the data in other ways, perhaps gadget bridge? I never tested that.

I need to think about it, cause I heard that gadget bridge didn't pull out the data correctly:

MisterX . The sleeping time was also different in the gadget bridge app than on my watch itself