Is your air fryer spying on you? It’s time to stop buying unnecessary ‘smart’ devices

There’s an uninvited guest coming to dinner tonight. You might not see them, but they’re listening from thousands of miles away ...

Air fryers make delicious roast potatoes and, it turns out, pretty decent snooping devices. Last month, the consumer group Which? issued a warning that everyday smart devices, including three Chinese-made air fryers, were “stuffed with trackers” and engaged in “excessive” surveillance. While you were cooking your dinner, it seems some of these air fryers may have been capturing your family conversations via their smartphone apps and sending data to servers abroad.

The Information Commissioner’s Office has now weighed in on the Which? report and said it will be issuing new guidance in spring 2025 about how smart device manufacturers should comply with data protection laws. I’m sure that as soon as this guidance comes out all the tech companies that are now pillaging your data will immediately change their ways and treat your personal information with the utmost respect.

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