5 smart doorbell brands with poor privacy

Smart doorbells give you a sense of security by letting you see who’s at your door from anywhere. But this convenience may come at a cost to your privacy. It is important to know that some brands do not perform very well when it comes to protecting your data.

Placing a 24-hour front door camera comes with some inherent risks, but you don’t have to give up privacy to have one. Unfortunately, many of the most popular smart doorbell brands have serious privacy concerns. Here’s a rundown of the things you should know.

Ring

Start with Ring, the pioneer in smart doorbells. The ring is built a close relationship with United States law enforcement agencies. While this may sound like a good thing, it means the police can request a recording from your Ring doorbell without a warrant. This raises serious concerns about possible surveillance and abuse, especially for those involved in protests or other events where privacy is critical.

In addition to cooperating with the police, Ringo was also caught exchange of user data with third-party trackers. Remember those targeted ads that seem to follow you around the web? This can be facilitated by data exchange. And let’s remember the reports in Call employees who are viewing user videos and strangers gain access to camera feeds (and talk to children).

Euphy

Eufy markets itself as a privacy-conscious smart home alternative. They emphasize local storage, which makes you believe that your videos stay on your home network. However, this illusion was shattered in late 2022 when Euphy was caught uploading footage to the cloud. This vulnerability led to unauthorized viewing of users’ videos, completely contradicting their privacy claims.

To make matters worse, Euphy handled the situation very poorly. The company initially denied any vulnerabilities, then went silent for three weeks and removed lines from its privacy commitments. Finally this recognized a lack of security in the Live View function on the web portal. All this has left a bad taste in the mouths of many users and makes it difficult to trust the company again.

Wyze

Wyze, known for its low-cost smart home devices, has had its fair share of privacy and security issues in the past. In 2023 a significant security flaw was discovered in their security cells. This allowed unauthorized access to users’ video feeds, with some reporting that they were able to see live feeds from users’ cameras when they opened the Wyze app.

This all sounds bad enough, but it just got worse again just five months later. All of this has led many publications (including How-To Geek) to retract their endorsements of Wyze products. While they usually fix these issues quickly with firmware updates, it raises questions about their initial security practices and the potential for future vulnerabilities.

Eken and Tuck (and related brands)

Now a few brands that don’t have the same recognition. Eken Group Ltd. is a company that produces video doorbells under various brands, including Eken, Tuck, Fishbot, Rakeblue, Andoe and others. These budget-friendly options can often be found at places like Amazon and Walmart. At the beginning of 2024 Consumer Reports found some troubling security flaws in these devices.

The problem lies in the wireless protocols that these doorbells use. Many rely on older, less secure protocols, making them easier targets for cyberattacks. In some cases, the doorbells themselves transmitted sensitive information like Wi-Fi network names and passwords in plain text, making them ripe for picking.

Basically, someone can easily steal your doorbell by simply pressing its button and linking it to their account on the Aiwit app (the app that all these brands use). And if that wasn’t enough, anyone with the doorbell’s serial number could access its images. This makes it incredibly vulnerable to widespread espionage.

Eken Group eventually released a firmware update to address these issues, but the initial lack of security makes it hard to trust them.

---

If you’re considering a smart doorbell, it’s important to do your research. Look beyond the flashy features and consider the company’s privacy policy, data collection practices, and security history. Choose a brand that prioritizes your privacy and offers strong encryption and regular security updates.