Your air fryer, other ‘smart devices’ may be spying on you: UK watchdog says some manufacturers ‘pushing boundaries...’

Your air fryers and other smart devices, such as smart TVs and smartwatches, are collecting data from you, breaching your privacy, an investigation by Which? revealed in December.

According to research by TechUK, four out of five people in the UK are thought to own at least one smart appliance, and are therefore exposed to the risk of some manufacturers “pushing the boundaries of what's acceptable on privacy”.

This prompted the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to enforce new guidelines to protect consumer privacy starting 16 June 2025.

In an increasingly connected world, Stephen Almond, executive director for regulatory risk at the ICO, said, “We shouldn't have to choose between enjoying the benefits of smart products and our own privacy.”

“We all rightly have a greater expectation of privacy in our own homes, so we must be able to trust smart products are respecting our privacy, using our personal information responsibly and only in ways we would expect,” he added.

Here's what the investigation revealed:

According to Which? study, three air fryers, made by China's Xiaomi, Tencent and Aigostar, recorded audio on their owners' phones for no specified reason.

The investigation also claimed that Aigostar and Xiaomi fryers sent personal data to Chinese servers, although the privacy notice supplied with the product flagged this.

Andy Laughlin, a tech expert at Which?, said that some companies have been pushing the boundaries of what's acceptable regarding privacy.

“Whether it's an air fryer that wants to know your exact location, or a smartwatch app that listens while you sleep, it's clear that some companies have been pushing the boundaries of what's acceptable on privacy,” said Laughlin.

The investigation also found the Huawei Ultimate smartwatch requested nine “risky” phone permissions, which was the most among all the devices in the study.

Huawei said all of the permissions it asks for have a justified need.

What are the new ICO guidelines?

The ICO said on June 16 that manufacturers and developers must “adopt a data protection by design and default approach,” i.e. considering data protection while the appliance is being designed and and then throughout the product's lifecycle.

The watchdog recommends a series of questions developers should ask themselves, including: “Do you need to use personal information?”

The new guidance also includes smartwatches and fitness trackers. The ICO warns that information like a user's BMI or fertility counts as special category data and should be treated with extra caution.

“When you bring a new smart product into your home, you can feel confident that we have your back.”