What robot vacuums know about your house

This question comes up constantly and gets answered badly in both directions — either dismissed as paranoia or inflated into surveillance. The accurate version is more boring and more useful, and it differs sharply depending on which navigation hardware you buy.

What is definitely collected

• A floor plan of your home. Room shapes, sizes, doorways, and the positions of large furniture. This is not incidental — it is the product. The app cannot show you a map without one existing.
• Where that plan lives. On mapped models it is stored in the manufacturer's cloud so the app can render it from anywhere. That is what makes it a privacy question rather than a device question.
• Usage data. When it runs, how long, which rooms, error events. Standard connected-device telemetry.
• Camera images, on camera-based models. A vSLAM robot navigates by camera and cannot work without one. Many LiDAR robots add a camera purely for obstacle recognition.

What differs by navigation type

A LiDAR or dToF robot maps by measuring distance, not by taking pictures. If such a model has no separate obstacle camera, it collects no images of your home at all. A vSLAM model cannot navigate without its camera, so there is no setting that removes the images. Many flagships sit in between: LiDAR or dToF for mapping, plus a camera for obstacle recognition that can usually be disabled at the cost of the avoidance feature. The technical comparison is on LiDAR versus vSLAM.

What we cannot tell you

We have not audited any manufacturer's data handling, we have no access to their servers, and we are not going to characterize any company's practices on the basis of news coverage. What we can tell you is what hardware each model carries, because that is published — and hardware determines what is possible in a way that a policy document does not.

If the question matters to you, read the privacy policy of the specific brand before buying rather than after. That is not a satisfying answer and it is the accurate one. Regulators have now taken their own view of the risk: in July 2026 the FCC added foreign-produced advanced robotic devices to its Covered List, which we cover in are robot vacuums banned in the US. It is a national security instrument rather than a privacy one, and it does not change what any robot collects.

Practical steps if you buy a connected model

1. Check what the app asks for at setup. Some request permissions unrelated to cleaning. Decline those and see whether anything actually breaks.
2. Turn off obstacle-recognition camera features if you do not need them. On most LiDAR models this is a setting, and it costs you avoidance rather than mapping.
3. Put it on a guest network if your router supports one, so the device cannot see the rest of your home network.
4. Delete the map and the account when you sell or dispose of the robot. A factory reset on the device does not necessarily remove the map from the cloud.
5. Look for a physical camera shutter or an indicator. Some models have one; most do not.

Quick picks

Ranked on the published specifications below. Tap a row to jump to the full write-up.

#	Product	Best for	Suction	Price
1	Roborock Qrevo CurvXThe highest published suction figure here paired with the highest published mop lift, which is the combination a mixed-floor home actually needs.	Thick carpet and tall sills in one house	22,000 Pa	$1,199.99 · See it on Amazon$1,499.99 −20%
2	Roborock Q7 M5+The Q7 M5's LiDAR and anti-tangle hardware, plus the self-emptying dock the plain M5 does not come with — and a stated bag capacity to go with it.	The cheapest self-emptying dock with real mapping	10,000 Pa	$299.99 · See it on Amazon$359.99 −17%

Every figure in this table is linked to the page it came from in the write-ups below. We have not tested any of these machines.

Top pick

Roborock Qrevo CurvX

Thick carpet and tall sills in one house

The highest published suction figure here paired with the highest published mop lift, which is the combination a mixed-floor home actually needs.

Published specifications

Stated suction

22,000 PaStated as peak HyperForce suction.Source: Roborock Qrevo Curv Series page — 22,000Pa HyperForce Suction (retrieved 2026-09-01)

Max climb height

40mm (1.57in) double-layerRoborock states "1.57 in Max. Double-Layer Threshold Crossing", with the chassis lift engaged.Source: Roborock Qrevo Curv Series page — threshold crossing (retrieved 2026-09-01)

Mop lift

17mmSource: Roborock Qrevo Curv Series page — "17mm Max. Mop Lifting" (retrieved 2026-09-01)

Main brush

DuoDivide main brush with FlexiArm Arc side brushRoborock calls the pair its Dual Anti-Tangle System.Source: Roborock Qrevo Curv Series page — brush system (retrieved 2026-09-01)

Navigation

RetractSense LiDAR with Reactive AI obstacle recognitionRoborock states the turret retracts in tight spaces and that the system recognizes 108 object types.Source: Roborock Qrevo Curv Series page — navigation (retrieved 2026-09-01)

Stated runtime

Not publishedNot stated on the Roborock series page.

Dustbin

Not publishedNot stated on the Roborock series page.

Body height

80mm (3.14in)Source: Roborock Qrevo CurvX, "3.14 in Ultra Slim" — manufacturer listing on Amazon.com (retrieved 2026-09-01)

Dock

Auto hot-water mop washing and dryingSource: Roborock Qrevo CurvX dock — manufacturer listing on Amazon.com (retrieved 2026-09-01)

What it does well

• 17mm mop lift is the highest published figure in this comparison
• 80mm (3.14in) body clears furniture most flagships cannot
• Retracting LiDAR turret, so the mast is not the height limit

What it does not

• 22,000 Pa is a peak figure, not what it sustains across a room
• Roborock publishes only a double-layer threshold figure for it, not a separate figure for a single vertical sill

Who it is for

Homes with deep carpet in some rooms and hard floors in others, where the mop has to get properly out of the way.

Skip it if

You have no carpet at all. Most of the premium on this model is carpet-specific hardware.

$1,199.99 · See it on Amazon$1,499.99 −20%

#ad how we are funded · price as of October 17, 2026

Full Roborock Qrevo CurvX write-up

Pick 2

Roborock Q7 M5+

The cheapest self-emptying dock with real mapping

The Q7 M5's LiDAR and anti-tangle hardware, plus the self-emptying dock the plain M5 does not come with — and a stated bag capacity to go with it.

Published specifications

Stated suction

10,000 PaSource: Roborock Q7 M5+ product page — HyperForce suction (retrieved 2026-09-17)

Max climb height

20mm (2cm)Roborock's wording is "2cm climbing ability", with no condition attached.Source: Roborock Q7 M5+ product page — climbing ability (retrieved 2026-09-17)

Mop lift

Not publishedNot stated on Roborock's product page.

Main brush

JawScrapers Comb anti-tangle main brush with an anti-tangle side brushSource: Roborock Q7 M5+ product page — brushes (retrieved 2026-09-17)

Navigation

360-degree PreciSense LiDARSource: Roborock Q7 M5+ product page — navigation (retrieved 2026-09-17)

Stated runtime

Not publishedNot stated on Roborock's product page.

Body height

99mm (3.9in)Source: Roborock Q7 M5+ product page — dimensions (retrieved 2026-09-17)

Dock

Auto-empty dock with a 2.7L dust bag, stated at up to 7 weeksRoborock qualifies the interval: "Based on Roborock internal testing. Actual results may vary depending on usage conditions." The Amazon listing title says 7 to 9 weeks.Source: Roborock Q7 M5+ product page — auto-empty dock (retrieved 2026-09-17)

What it does well

• Self-emptying dock with a stated 2.7L dust bag
• JawScrapers Comb anti-tangle main brush and an anti-tangle side brush — both ends of the tangle problem
• 360-degree LiDAR navigation at entry-level money

What it does not

• Two different intervals for one dock: Roborock says up to 7 weeks based on internal testing, the Amazon listing says 7 to 9 weeks
• A 20mm climb figure, which is the low end of what makers publish
• No published mop-lift height or runtime

Who it is for

A shedding household on a budget that wants to stop emptying a bin by hand.

Skip it if

You want the mop washed for you. Roborock describes this dock as auto-empty, not mop-washing, so the pad is still yours to rinse.

$299.99 · See it on Amazon$359.99 −17%

#ad how we are funded · price as of October 17, 2026

Full Roborock Q7 M5+ write-up