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| - U.K.-based consumer group Which? found that air fryers from Xiaomi, Corsair and Aigostar asked for permission to record audio and users' locations and birth dates through the companies' Android apps. Aigostar and Xiaomi sent data to servers in China, according to the report. However ...
... There was no concrete evidence from reputable sources that the data was being used for espionage purposes. Which? also clarified that it did not use the word "spying" in its report to mean espionage.
In December 2024 and January 2025 claims (archived) circulated on social media that air fryers were "listening to" (archived) or "spying on" (archived) their owners.
On Dec. 28, 2024, tech journalist Kim Komando posted a clip of her show discussing the claim with co-host Andrew Babinski.
Andrew Babinski: They did a study and they looked at a bunch of air fryers, kitchen appliances, anything that is "smart" and they found out that your air fryer is listening to you. It's not like there's a microphone built in, or it's listening to you directly. Once you connect it to your phone you give it permission to access everything
Kim Komando: Nice.
AB: Including the microphone on your phone and including the ability to turn it on, off and record and transmit those recordings whenever it wants.
KK: Are they all just Chinese brands?
AB: They are, they're all Chinese brands and ... probably, the watchdog group said, that's part of the problem — is that this information is going directly to China.
KK: What is China not getting from us?
AB: That's very true. And they said, "Hey, we are open and honest about all of this. It's in the manual and the Terms and Conditions."
KK: And we all read that.
Further claims (archived) also centered the allegations (archived) around air fryers from Chinese brands.
The claim likely originated from a report by Which?, a U.K.-based consumer watchdog. The report looked at which permissions the Android apps accompanying air fryers from Chinese brands Xiaomi, Cosori and Aigostar asked users to give and found that all three wanted audio recording and location-information permissions. Aigostar and Xiaomi both "sent people's personal data to servers in China," according to Which?, though this was flagged in the apps' privacy notices.
There was no indication from reputable sources, however, that information collected by the air fryer apps included in the study were used for espionage purposes. Which? also clarified to Snopes that it did not use the word "spying" in its report to mean espionage but rather "the commonly used 'keep a watch on' meaning."
In the right-of-replies section in the Which? report, Xiaomi said that the audio recording feature in its app "is not applicable to Xiaomi Smart Air Fryer which does not operate directly through voice commands and video chat." Cosori said its smart product "must comply with GDPR" (a European law governing how data is handled) but declined to comment further. Which? said Aigostar did not respond. We have reached out to all three companies and will update this report if we receive further responses.
The part of the Which? report relating to air fryers said:
In the air fryer category, as well as knowing customers' precise location, all three products wanted permission to record audio on the user's phone, for no specified reason. The Xiaomi app linked to its air fryer connected to trackers from Facebook, Pangle (the ad network of TikTok for Business), and Chinese tech giant Tencent (depending on the location of the user). The Aigostar air fryer wanted to know gender and date of birth when setting up an owner account, again for no clear reason, but this was optional. The Aigostar and Xiaomi fryers both sent people's personal data to servers in China, although this was flagged in the privacy notice.
Which? described the data requests as "excessive smart device surveillance." The watchdog explained over email that it had registered data being sent to "a large number of IP addresses and domains registered in China" during its test, which is how it knew user data could end up there. Which? said: "For example, in an analysis of a sample of four devices on test (including an air fryer), the products and linked apps had contact with 201 points located in China. One of the air fryers accounted for 51 of these connections." The testing was carried out by a third-party cybersecurity firm, Which? said.
Similar research by SurfShark, a VPN provider, from February 2024 found Aigostar's app for iPhone to be less intrusive than the Android version tested in the Which? report. Out of 32 unique data points listed in Apple's App Store, Aigostar's app collected five, according to SurfShark. These five points all were classified by SurfShark as "data not linked to the user." Notably, SurfShark found that Aigostar's iPhone app did not collect audio data, as Which? found its Android app did.
We reached out to the Consumer Protection Branch of the U.S. Department of Justice, which helps to enforce laws that protect aspects of life such as identity integrity, and Consumer Watchdog, a California-based protection organization, who both declined to comment on the study's implications for U.S. consumers.
Consumer Reports, a nonprofit organization that carries out product testing, referred us to a 2022 article about smart appliances and privacy. The article contains general advice for consumers when using smart devices also given by Which?, including checking and restricting app permissions in your phone settings or denying tracking permission where possible.
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