Alexa knows what you look like, as does your Ring camera. And your Samsung Smart Things Hub is probably recording you right now.
TechShielder looked at what popular smart home devices collect to find out which ones know the most about you. It narrowed the list down to 10: the Amazon Echo Dot, Chromecast with Google TV, Samsung SmartThings Hub, Nest Protect, Ring Indoor Cam, Levoit LV-PUR131S, Sonos One, TP-Link Kasa Smart Plug, Roborock S6, and Philips Hue.
Nearly all of the devices TechShielder examined collect some basic information, such as your name, address, timezone, phone number, email, IP address, location, information shared with third parties, payment information, and device type.
But lots go beyond that, with voice recording (70%), photo access (50%), video access (50%), user profile images (50%), video (40%), and personal description (40%). They even know you better than your family might when it comes to some things, since they know what you buy (70%), what you look at online (50%), apps you use (40%), all your internet searches (40%), and your personal interests (30%).
Out of the 10 devices, TechShielder found that the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock hoovers up the most data points (43%).
"The Echo Dot stores personal information like our name and address, has access to our photo and video files, and stores live voice recording data," TechShielder said. "This device collects more information about our online activity than all other devices, including data such as browsing history, downloads and web searches.
"It is also one of only three devices (along with the SmartThings Hub and Chromecast) to store information about our contacts, such as their name or phone number," TechShielder added.
TechShielder, however, acknowledged that the volume of data collected by the Echo Dot "makes sense" since it's "one of the most versatile products in the range we researched." Whereas security cameras or smart thermostats are designed to do one thing, "the Echo Dot serves more than one purpose: you can use it to make phone calls, control smart home features like lights and indoor temperature, operate your TV, and more."
Rounding out the top five most data-hungry smart home devices: Chromecast with Google TV (42%), Samsung SmartThingsHub (37%), Nest Protect (34%), and Ring Indoor Cam (26%).