Research reveals that air fryers may be recording audio without user consent

Photos and video: Reproduction X @XiaomiIndia

A study conducted by the consumer advice company Which? revealed that air fryers from brands Xiaomi, Tencent, and Aigostar wanted to record users’ audio through their phones.

A study conducted by the consumer advice company Which? showed that air fryers from the brands Xiaomi, Tencent, and Aigostar were asking for permission from customers to record audio through their users’ phones.

The research indicates that the devices were sending users’ personal data to servers in China, according to their privacy notices. The devices were interested in gathering information such as location, gender, date of birth, and even linking Facebook advertising trackers.

Aigostar told the UNILAD portal, “We do not collect audio data from our devices,” and that location permissions are used to configure Wi-Fi and can be granted or denied by the user.

Harry Rose, editor of Which? magazine, said that the research shows how companies are able to collect consumer data. “This is often done with little or no transparency,” he added.

Photos and video: X @XiaomiIndia. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.