Could Your Bluetooth Devices Be Spying on You.

When you think of Bluetooth headphones or wireless home devices, convenience is usually the first thing that comes to mind. But there is a darker side to that convenience that many companies hope you never notice. Some of the most recognizable audio and smart home brands are quietly harvesting data or leaving your devices wide open to hijacking. Your music isn’t the only thing being picked up. Your conversations might be, too.

The Problem: Always Listening, Often Vulnerable

In 2019, BBC News uncovered that Amazon, Apple, and Google were using real human contractors to review voice recordings from their smart home devices. That meant Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant were not just waiting for their wake-up directions. They listened more often than advertised. That recording sometimes happened by accident. Sometimes it happened by design.

Even without a smart speaker in the room, your Bluetooth headphones might still be giving others a way in. According to Fox News, a widespread vulnerability discovered in 2024 affects “millions of premium Bluetooth headphones.” Read more about this report here. The flaw could allow an attacker to intercept your audio stream without requiring your permission. That includes what you’re saying during calls. Or what’s being said near your headphones when you’re not on a call at all.

A separate Tom’s Guide article revealed just how easy it is to exploit this kind of flaw. It described how hackers could impersonate your device, take control of it, or listen in by injecting malicious code. There’s no need for you to click anything. Just having Bluetooth on is often enough.

Smart Homes, Dumb Privacy

The modern smart home has a microphone in nearly every room. Kitchen speakers, bedroom assistants, thermostats, televisions, and even light bulbs are now online and ready to “listen for commands.” But that means they are listening. Period.

Some companies anonymize and encrypt that data. Others do not. Some give you full control over what’s stored and what’s not. Others bury those settings in vague dashboards or never offer them at all.

The worst part? Many of these devices are not designed to be secure. They prioritize user growth and data collection over your privacy. Once a vulnerability is discovered, patches may take weeks to release. Some older models never get fixed at all.

What Audioengine Believes

At Audioengine, we believe Bluetooth should serve your music, not monitor your life.

Our Home Music Systems are built without microphones. That’s not a technical limitation. It’s a conscious decision. We do not spy. We do not record. We do not upload. You get great sound and an industry-leading wireless range of up to 100 feet. That’s it. No apps to snoop. No voice controls to exploit. No hidden data pipelines feeding your information back to a cloud server.

We’re proud to say that you don’t need to give up privacy for premium wireless sound. When you pair your phone or laptop to an Audioengine product, that connection is direct. We don’t run proprietary software. We don’t require sign-ups. We don’t track what you play, when you play it, or who’s in the room while it’s playing.

Bluetooth should make listening easier, not make your home more vulnerable. That’s why our commitment to simple, secure design isn’t changing. No updates that break your setup. No logins that tie your habits to your identity. Just clean sound and a product that does exactly what you expect.

Keep Listening. On Your Terms.

Before you buy your next set of headphones or smart home accessory, ask a simple question. Does this device need a mic? If not, why does it have one? Who controls the updates? Who has access to the data?

At Audioengine, we’ve been building handcrafted, high-performance audio gear for 20 years. Our Bluetooth works without the nonsense. Because your conversations are not for sale. Your living room should not be a surveillance hub. Your music should be yours alone.