Your smart home devices collect more data than you think

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Have you ever wondered just how much data your smart home devices were collecting about you? Worse still, are they sharing that data with third parties?

Well, VPN company Surfshark has done the research, and as it turns out, some brands collect a lot more data than you probably thought. They've built a Smart Home Privacy Checker, where you can search for a smart device and find out how far your chosen brand's privacy policy really extends.

Here's a breakdown of the findings in a few key categories.

Home security

We get home security devices to keep our home safe, but depending on the brand, your data might not be quite as safe. Here's a comparison of each of the brands Surfshark looked into and how many points of data they collect.

Brand
Points of data collected
Points of data shared
Reolink20
EZVIZ30
Wyze60
Eufy90
Schlage90
TP-Link100
Arlo150
Ring150
Nest170

Smart home hubs

Smart home hubs usually come in the form of a smart speaker, but they can also be embedded in other devices, including tablets, smart displays, and even cameras. Here's how much data each smart home hub brand collects.

Brand
Points of data collected
Points of data shared
Apple40
Aqara120
Samsung SmartThings120
Nest170
Alexa280

Baby monitors

These days, it seems brands start collecting your data from birth. Here's how much they're gathering about your little one.

Brand
Points of data collected
Points of data shared
Lollipop50
VTech60
Eufy Baby100
Owlet130
Nanit140

Smart pet devices

Yep, brands are even keeping tabs on Fido and Rex. Here's how much data each company is gathering from smart pet cameras and feeders.

Brand
Points of data collected
Points of data shared
Skymee00
PetSafe30
Eufy Pet60
Furbo70
Petcube70

What data is collected?

Surfshark examined each brand to see how many out of 32 unique data points they collected. These data points include things like email addresses, phone numbers, physical addresses, health and fitness data, payment information, location data, photos, videos, search history, user and device ID, and more.

So, what does this mean?

No, you don't have to go and throw out every internet-connected device you own. As you can see in the tables above, none of the listed brands share the data they collect with third parties, which is great, because that data can't be used for targeted advertising.

That said, the more data collected about you, the more data can be leaked in the event of a breach, so for that reason, we'd always recommend opting for brands that collect fewer points of data.

Georgia Dixon
Written by
Georgia Dixon has 10 years of experience writing about all things tech, entertainment and lifestyle. She has bylines on Reviews.org, 7NEWS, Stuff.co.nz, in TechLife magazine and more. In 2023 she won Best News Writer at the Consensus IT Awards, and in 2024 she was a finalist for Best News Journalist at the Samsung IT Journalism Awards (The Lizzies). In her spare time, you'll find her playing games and daydreaming about good food, wine, and dogs.

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