A recent "Smart Home Privacy Checker" study by Surfshark research center revealed some worrying trends. Shockingly, it turns out that one in 10 smart home apps collect user data for tracking purposes. Big players like Amazon and Google stand out as major collectors, with their apps consuming huge amounts of personal information from millions of users every day.

“In a world where convenience often trumps privacy, our research reveals a worrying trend in apps for smart home devices, especially those from big companies like Amazon and Google. The problem goes beyond data collection; Firstpost quotes Surfshark privacy consultant Goda Sukackaiti as saying that it intrudes on users' privacy, potentially leading to data theft, security breaches and uncontrolled sharing of personal information.

Sukackaite recommends that users take proactive steps, such as managing privacy settings, controlling app permissions, and staying informed about the data policies governing their smart home devices.

Surfshark's research examined 290 apps across more than 400 Internet of Things (IoT) devices, focusing on the most popular. Each app is rigorously evaluated across 32 data points, assessing criteria such as user identification, tracking mechanisms and data linkage. 

The findings rank apps based on the scope and type of data collected. The study also revealed a worrying trend: 12 of the 290 apps analyzed had not updated their data collection practices for more than a year. This raises questions about compliance with privacy laws and transparency. Notably, apps that control children's toys, such as MekaMon and Cozmo, have been found to collect sensitive data such as exact locations, photos and audio recordings.