Smart Home Devices Will Grow to 785 Million Users by 2028, Raising Serious Data Privacy Concerns: Report

Updated June 19, 2024, 11:24 AM CEST

A recent study from research center Surfshark, “Smart Home Privacy Checker,” reveals alarming trends in data collection practices in smart home apps.

According to Statista, the global adoption of smart home technology is growing and is projected to reach 785.16 million users by 2028. These developments bring new levels of convenience and connectivity, but they also raise serious data privacy concerns. A recent study from research center Surfshark, “Smart Home Privacy Checker,” reveals alarming trends in data collection practices in smart home apps. A study found that one in 10 smart home apps collects user data for tracking purposes.

Large companies like Amazon and Google stand out for their extensive data collection. Amazon Alex for example, the app collects 28 of 32 possible data points, including precise location, contact details and health information, which is well above the industry average. Similarly, Google’s smart home devices collect 22 of 32 data points, including addresses, locations, photos, videos, audio, and browsing histories.

Goda Sukackaite, privacy advisor at Surfshark, highlighted the disturbing implications of these findings, noting that convenience often comes at the expense of privacy. The study indicates that data collection by these large companies is intruding on users’ private lives, potentially leading to data theft, security breaches and the uncontrolled sharing of personal data.

The Surfshark study assessed 290 apps on over 400 Internet of Things (IoT) devices, scoring them based on 32 data points such as user identification, tracking mechanisms and data association. The findings show that users of smart home devices pay a double price: the financial cost and the personal data cost. About a third of these apps collect detailed data such as device IDs, email addresses and product interactions, and some even track precise locations.

Outdoor security cameras, especially aggressive in data collection, collect an average of 12 data points – 50% more than other devices. Apps like Deep Sentinel and Lorex are contributing significantly to increased data collection. Additionally, the study found that 12 of the 290 apps had not updated their data collection practices in over a year, raising concerns about compliance with privacy and transparency regulations.

As smart home devices become more integrated into everyday activities, users must balance the convenience these technologies offer with the need to protect their privacy.