A regular mirror reflects your image, but a smart mirror goes further, often connecting to the internet to support advanced features like apps, music streaming, and smart home controls. Some are also equipped with microphones and cameras for voice commands and video calls, which means they may be collecting highly personal data every time you use them.
Inside a Smart Mirror: What’s Really Happening
A smart mirror can hold more tech under the glass than you might realize. Some models have microphones that listen for your voice, cameras for gesture recognition and calls, and touch sensors for smartphone-like controls.
These pieces of hardware capture everything from what you say to how you move, meaning there’s software inside processing it all, and likely dropping usage logs. Depending on the brand, that data may remain in the mirror’s memory for local usage, but it could get sent to the company’s servers to help improve their products.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because it is. The apps on our phones, computers, and TVs gather and transmit data for the same reason. What’s different with a smart mirror is that they typically live in a private space like a bedroom or bathroom, always on and potentially constantly watching and listening.
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The Risks With Using Smart Mirrors
Most smart mirrors connect to the outside world through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to enable their handy features. Without that connectivity, the mirror would never know the temperature or how to pull up your favorite music.
This link, however, also means information can leave your home network. This data could be relatively meaningless (to you) and no reason to worry. Few people are concerned when an app developer records how often you adjust the brightness or change the display theme.
The bigger concern here is what happens if someone gains access to more personal information, like through weak security or a breach. You have very little control over those mishaps. And in those cases, you’re no longer talking about harmless usage stats ending up in places you didn’t agree to, but potentially your physical location, samples of your image or voice, or even a live feed of your bathroom.
How to Stay Safe Using a Smart Mirror
You can use a smart mirror without giving up your privacy if you set it up the right way. The goal is to control what it can collect and who can access it. Think about the features you actually need, and turn off the rest.
In addition to keeping the mirror’s software up to date to patch vulnerabilities and ensuring your home network is secure, follow these tips for other ways to keep your smart mirror safe:
- Be smart about where you place your camera-equipped mirror.
- Get a smart mirror without a camera or with a physical cover you can close.
- Check and limit the permissions in the companion app.
- Disable internet or Bluetooth connectivity when you don’t need them.
- Set up user profiles or passcodes if the mirror supports them.
- Read the company’s privacy policy before you buy the mirror to learn how your data is handled.
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