- Germany’s Federal Network Agency investigated suspicious listings of technology products, including smartwatches
- Many of these products advertise glucose monitoring features.
- There is no reliable, non-invasive way to monitor glucose, and some watches have been found to simply estimate or fabricate readings.
Unfortunately, any poor recipient of watches like these will be scammed, as no smartwatch can accurately measure blood glucose (or even “glucose” as the list above puts it) levels with LEDs alone. Continuous glucose monitors like Abbott’s Lingo, which involves an invasive needle connected to a Bluetooth-enabled chip, are the only commercially available smart technology capable of doing this accurately.
The Federal Network Agency, a German regulatory body, investigated many online listings in 2025 and found serious flaws in 7.7 million different products, with smartwatches being the worst offenders. Detected through NotebookCheck, these flaws ranged from a lack of CE markings to listing features such as blood glucose monitoring, which were actually “simulated” – meaning the device wasn’t actually reading the user’s blood glucose, it just looked as if it were.
One of those smartwatches that made these claims, the Kospet iHeal 6, was actually withdrawn from the market in 2024, but is still being sold in German territories, after the decision to withdraw it was handed down.
Smartwatches provide information about your health, but not legally protected health information, and as such their functions are not subject to legislation such as HIPAA in the US, nor should they be classified as suitable for use in a medical environment. More serious smartwatch makers, like Apple, are seeking U.S. FDA approval for features like hypertension detection.
However, if you are just looking to flood the market with cheap smartwatch clones, there is no need for such strict legislation. Simply create an app that looks like it’s doing what it’s actually supposed to do and list the device on Amazon for $50 / £40 / AU$65 or less.
When I compared the cheap Viido fitness tracker to the Garmin watch in the link above, everything was wrong, from the step counting and wildly oscillating heart rate tracker to its app that looked like a dodgy piece of malware. These devices are not reliable and there is no point in purchasing them.
If platforms like Amazon don’t stop their sales, it’s up to us to be diligent and responsible consumers and do some research before pulling the trigger. Can I direct you to our guide to the best cheap smartwatches to get you started?
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