When you have been relying on traditional methods of home cleaning, for example, using a mop or you have hired a maid to do it, chances are you would know if the person is spying on you or not.
The world has advanced and so has the technology. In today’s time, people with busy schedules are laying their hands on robotic vacuums and adding settings that help in cleaning, without any further assistance.
A robot vacuum works impeccably. It cleans every nook and corner of your house and no, you don’t have to guide it. With just a few settings, this robot vacuum takes control and starts working its magic of cleaning your house.
But with every good thing comes a drawback as well. Have you ever wondered what could be the disadvantages of using a vacuum?
Even though it is one of the best interventions in centuries, this one can still hack all your information since it has different sensors attached to the machine that navigates and works on the whole house.
If you are wondering, whether the Robovac spies on you or not, here are the answers that you were looking for. This is all you need to know before you lay your hands on this home espionage.
Does it take pictures? Yes. Sort of, it does. The Roomba 900 series by iRobot which is known as the best Roomba for pet hair works on the floor with navigation.
The reason why it has images is that it’s a robot after all that needs to be trained. It follows the pattern of dark and light points. It actually isn’t very fishy.
What about the details? Roomba 900 series stores the mapping and also the navigation data in the robot only. If it is wifi enabled, all the data is stored on iCloud. The current models have this feature and Roomba takes only precautionary measures without harming your data.
Why does it need this data? The answer is what needs to be cleaned and what doesn’t is decided by you and the data has to be fed to the Roomba. The basic things, like how big is your floor, surface area, etc. are something that need to be stored so that it works even when you are not home.
What Happens To The Data That The Vacuum Has
When there’s wifi availability, Roomba collects the data effectively helps clean your home and grants customers with apt information for cleaning. The data includes the robot’s cleaning time, job, how much it traveled, etc.
This information can further be added to the Cloud. All you need is a wifi connection and pair it with the home app.
The data that is collected on this robot vacuum is stored securely and is not shared with anyone. The high level of security is controlled strictly and is limited to only authorized customers.
Moreover, the data that is stored is encrypted and with multiple rotations regularly, it reduces the risk of the data getting exposed.
In case, you still don’t feel safe keeping it at your home; these are some ways in which you can control it. After all, it is a robot that can actually be managed by human brains only.
Stay Cloudless
You can choose to go cloudless, meaning not storing any data in iCloud. While selecting the options, steer clear of the map report option in your app. This way your home will stay out of the data arena and the robot will exactly know who rules the house.
Reset Your Roomba
It is not always necessary that your Roomba is connected to the internet as it will still clean your house even without it. iRobot says that the data can be cleaned by resetting your Roomba.
You can go to the homepage of iRobot and choose the reset Roomba option. Or you can long-press the three buttons for 15 seconds. Once you hear the tone, the light will flash which indicates the data has been erased.
Get A Cheap One
No, robotic vacuums are cheap but probably the ones that cost less will have lesser chances of ‘spying’ on you. But as said earlier, the machine analyses your floor, maps it to navigate and works its magic.
Set Up MAC Address
Every device that connects has a unique Media Access Control address. It can only be accessed by people added to the list. This way whoever doesn’t have access will not enter the territory of spying on your data. Check this one out, as it can really clear all your doubts.
Check Your Home Network
Weak passwords and wifi names are easy to crack and are actually an access point for hackers. But robot vacuums have a special feature that’s built-in which notifies if you have weak router passwords and shows if it’s vulnerable to being hacked.