Amazon Astro
Amazon · Camera / Doorbell
Staff Reviewed · 2026-09-26 — a person at DeSpy reviewed this rating.
Index
Amazon's ~$1,600 wheeled home robot (launched Sept 2021, still invite-only in 2026; only the Astro for Business variant was discontinued). An Alexa device with camera, microphone, and an extendable periscope camera that autonomously maps and patrols the home, does face/voice recognition, and runs a Ring/Alexa Guard "Sentry" security mode. Amazon disclaims selling personal info, but data is combined with third-party data for advertising; it collects biometric (face+voice enrollment) plus in-home audio/video and room maps, retains transcripts/action records indefinitely, and inherits Ring's law-enforcement-sharing history. 2021 leaked internal "Vesta" documents and Mozilla's "Privacy Not Included" flagged surveillance concerns; the shared Alexa/Ring data pipeline drew a 2023 FTC/DOJ settlement.
Why this rating
POLICY 45 = 100 -15 broker-disclosure (combines user data with third-party data and shares with "business partners" for targeted advertising) -15 sensitive-collection (face+voice biometric enrollment, in-home audio/video, autonomous room mapping) -8 indefinite-retention (transcripts/action records retained indefinitely per Mozilla; FTC found Amazon kept Alexa recordings indefinitely) -7 policy-vagueness (Mozilla: policies a "difficult to navigate mess"; deletion only "to the extent required by applicable law") -5 unilateral-change (Amazon Conditions of Use reserve right to amend terms) -5 law-enforcement-loose (Ring/Amazon documented sharing of footage with police incl. warrantless emergency requests; Astro Sentry integrates Ring). Not applied: sells-data (Amazon explicitly disclaims selling PI); no-opt-out (hardware mic/camera off switches, out-of-bounds zones, deletable voice recordings exist); forced-arbitration (Amazon dropped consumer arbitration in 2021); no-deletion-right (limited deletion controls exist). No bonuses (no marketed local-only processing mode, no data-minimization commitment, no independent privacy audit). EVIDENCE 55 = 100 -25 undisclosed-collection (2021 leaked internal "Vesta" docs: behavioral heat-mapping and automated stranger-tracking beyond marketed function) -20 regulatory-action (2023 FTC/DOJ Alexa COPPA + Ring settlements targeting the exact voice/video retention pipeline Astro uses; ecosystem-level, not Astro-specific). Both incidents <5yr so full weight. Studied device, not "unstudied." Confidence medium: strong Astro-specific investigative reporting + independent review exist, but the heaviest regulator action is ecosystem-wide (Alexa/Ring) rather than Astro alone. Verification (2026-07-21): all three citations independently confirmed - Vice/Vesta article live and supports its summary; Mozilla review live (exact date 2022-11-09); FTC press release confirmed via search ($25M Alexa COPPA + concurrent $5.8M Ring settlement, both dated 2023-05-31) after the FTC page returned a 403 bot-block. Price (~$1,599), invite-only 2026 status, and Astro-for-Business-only discontinuation also cross-checked.
What it is
- Microphone
- Camera
- Requires a cloud account
- Manufacturer
- Amazon
- Category
- Camera / Doorbell
- Model years
- 2021-present
- Market status
- Current
- Companion app
- Astro app / Amazon Alexa app
The evidence 3
Independent research, regulatory action, lawsuits and journalism about how this device handles personal data — the "what actually happens" axis. Each links to its source.
-
Leaked internal design docs (codename "Vesta") show Astro builds heat maps of household traffic, requires face/voice enrollment of residents, and runs a "Sentry" mode that follows and records unrecognized people while investigating "strangers" - collection and profiling beyond the marketed home-robot function.
Why it matters here: Astro-specific primary evidence of undisclosed/expansive in-home behavioral and biometric data collection.
-
Amazon paid a $25M penalty (plus a concurrent $5.8M Ring settlement) to settle FTC/DOJ charges it retained Alexa voice and geolocation data indefinitely, undermined parental deletion requests, and allowed overbroad employee/contractor access to Ring video.
Why it matters here: Ecosystem-level, not Astro-specific, but Astro is an Alexa device that integrates Ring/Sentry - it uses the exact voice/video retention pipeline the FTC penalized.
-
Mozilla's independent review gives Astro a "Privacy Not Included" warning: data combined with third-party info for advertising, indefinite transcript retention, deletion rights limited outside CA/EU, and a security track record rated "needs improvement."
Why it matters here: Independent third-party assessment corroborating the policy deductions (advertising data use, retention, vague deletion, weak security history).
Are you the maker? Respond to this finding
Free. There is no paid or faster path, and nothing about a rating is for sale. Prove you control your company's domain with one DNS record; a person then reads your statement beside our finding and decides whether to publish it.
Think something here is wrong?
Evidence and research improve when people push back. Tell us what to re-check — a misattributed domain, an outdated classification, a claim about your own app — and a human will review it. Responses can take up to 30 days.
Descriptive, cited, not legal advice; ratings are versioned and corrections create a new version. Data from the IoT Info Grabber DB research project, CC BY-SA 4.0.