Android Wear and Apple Watch are missing theft protection features

Users of Apple Watch and Android Wear smart watches have every reason to worry about the security of their devices. These wearables appear to be missing protection features to guard against thieves.

It turns out that Apple Watch and Android Wear are built as if to make it easy for thieves to resell the devices. That is so because the devices seem to allow for a quick wiping of sensitive data contained in them, thus the ability of thieves to pair the wearable with other smartphones to be operable anew.

Why would the Android Wear and Apple Watch be the prime target of theft?

Unlike the rest of the Apple family of products, the Apple Watch does not have an activation lock security feature that would prevent any attempt of unauthorized access. Therefore it would be too easy for thieves to reset the device, wipe it clean, gain access even without a security pass and pair it with another Apple device using another Apple ID to log in.

Should you be all the more worried with this? By all means yes. Not only does it make the Apple Watch and Android Wear attractive to thieves, it would expose Apple users to harm in the streets. At as much a price of $1,099, thieves would do anything to snatch an Apple Watch or two.

Similarly, Google’s Android Wear platform is not safe from thieves. It lacks protection features as the Apple Watch. Once a smart watch based on Android Wear is stolen, the thief can reset to the device in just a matter of minutes and pair it with another iPhone after that. What makes this process so easy is the absence of passwords or codes or Google ID requirements, which would otherwise make the device more safe from third-party access.

All the iOS 7 devices have built-in activation lock designed to protect the mobile devices. Apple launched the security feature in 2013 to prevent hackers or thieves from wiping a phone clean by requiring an Apple ID and password from third-party access.

Since then, police authorities have reported a decline in the number of mobile devices stolen. An iPhone now is worthless once it is stolen because all access to the device will be closed by what is called the kill switch feature.

Some Android devices also have this security feature. To give credit to both Android Wear and Apple Watch, they both secure personal information from thieves, unless a sophisticated hacking method is employed.