Companion Robot Shared Household Exit Checklist: 18 Account and Consent Checks
A practical checklist for a roommate, partner, carer or family member leaving a home where a connected companion robot stores profiles, recordings and access.
Quick answer
When someone leaves a household with a companion robot, agree who owns the device and account, then remove the departing person’s profile, biometric templates, paired phones, payment methods and remote permissions without deleting evidence needed for a dispute. Rotate shared credentials, review cloud retention and smart-home integrations, and explain what data remains. Test that the former resident cannot reconnect, while preserving lawful access and avoiding a destructive factory reset unless ownership is clear.
General consumer safety and privacy information; follow model-specific manufacturer instructions and relevant authorities.
1. Establish ownership before changing anything
Identify who bought the robot, whose account controls it, whether costs were shared and whether any written agreement applies. Record serial numbers, receipts and support records. Do not assume physical possession equals digital ownership. If ownership is disputed, preserve the status quo and seek appropriate advice rather than factory-resetting, selling or transferring the device. An irreversible change can destroy evidence and deepen a conflict without resolving account control.
2. Name the people and data affected
List household members, guests, carers and remote users whose voices, images, routines, profiles or messages may be stored. Mark children or vulnerable people who require extra care. The account owner is not the only person affected by sensors in a shared space. A useful inventory identifies local storage, cloud services, paired phones and integrations so the exit process does not focus on one visible profile while leaving other copies untouched.
3. Agree a dated exit plan
Set the date when physical access, remote access, billing and data retention will change. Assign an owner for each step and a method for recording completion. Provide a reasonable route to export personal material without exposing other people’s data. Avoid surprise changes during conflict unless needed for immediate safety. A scheduled, auditable sequence reduces the risk of revenge deletion, continued surveillance or accidental loss of warranty and safety records.
4. Preserve necessary records narrowly
Keep receipts, ownership evidence, safety incidents, support tickets and agreed exports. Do not copy entire conversation or camera archives to create leverage. Encrypt any necessary archive, restrict access and set a review date. Separate evidence from ordinary memories and preferences. If a dispute or safety event exists, document why material is retained and who may access it, rather than treating cloud availability as permission to download everything.
5. Remove personal profiles and recognition data
Use documented controls to delete the departing person’s profile, face or voice template, routines, contacts and personalization. Record what the interface says was removed and whether cloud deletion is separate. Do not create a fresh scan to prove deletion. If the vendor only disables a profile, label retention unresolved and open a support case. A missing name on screen does not prove embeddings, recordings or backups were erased.
6. Unpair phones and revoke sessions
Remove the departing person’s phone, tablet, browser sessions, passkeys, API tokens and recovery methods. Review every administrator and delegated role, not just the most recent login. Change the owner password from a trusted device and enable multi-factor authentication. Do not ask anyone to reveal a personal password. FTC guidance for connected devices supports unique credentials and two-factor authentication; the household should end shared access cleanly.
7. Rotate shared household credentials
Change only credentials that were genuinely shared or exposed: Wi-Fi, robot account, smart-home invitations, local PINs and recovery codes. Preserve router and account logs first if misuse is suspected. Avoid resetting every device without evidence because that causes disruption and can erase useful history. Record the rotation date and systems affected. Former access should end without creating an undocumented web of new shared passwords.
8. Review remote viewing and teleoperation
Test whether old apps, links or support channels can still view cameras, hear microphones or move the robot. Check remote operator logs and paired devices. Tell remaining residents when remote access is active and who controls it. A departing person may retain a saved session even after their visible profile is deleted. Unexpected remote motion or sensor access is a stop condition that requires isolation and account review.
9. Separate billing and subscriptions
Identify subscriptions, warranties, service plans, cloud storage, mobile connectivity and payment methods. Decide which continue, transfer or cancel under written terms. Remove cards and addresses that no longer belong, and save confirmation numbers without storing financial data. A factory reset generally does not stop recurring charges. Conversely, cancelling too early may remove export, safety or support access needed to complete an orderly handover.
10. Revoke smart-home integrations
Review doors, alarms, cameras, lights, calendars, messaging and voice assistants connected to the robot. Remove the departing person’s permissions and revoke unnecessary tokens. Confirm the robot cannot reveal schedules or control consequential devices through an old integration. Do not dismantle the whole smart home as a shortcut. NIST treats IoT risk as an ecosystem issue; the account boundary extends beyond the robot itself.
11. Explain remaining retention honestly
Document what data was deleted locally, what the vendor says it retains, backup periods, support logs and unresolved requests. Give affected people a contact and case number. Avoid promising that all data is gone unless every layer is independently verified. A transparent statement such as “local profile removed; cloud deletion pending” is more useful than a reset screenshot and protects remaining residents from false confidence.
12. Reconfirm consent in shared spaces
Ask remaining residents where the robot may operate and when cameras, microphones or cloud features must be disabled. Update guest notices and household rules. Consent granted under one household arrangement may not survive a breakup, roommate change or carer transition. Provide a real refusal option such as a sensor cover, local-only mode, another room or shutdown. Convenience does not override a person’s right to avoid unexpected observation.
13. Check physical keys and accessories
Recover docks, chargers, remotes, removable storage, service keys, shipping braces and manuals. Inspect for damage and record condition. A missing SD card, remote or paired hub may contain data or provide access. Do not accuse a person based on an incomplete inventory; reconcile the original purchase list and support records. Store safety-critical accessories together so future users do not substitute incompatible chargers or improvise around missing controls.
14. Test access boundaries without intrusion
After permissions change, verify from the owner account that the departing profile and devices are absent. Ask the former user to confirm sign-out when appropriate, but do not attempt to enter their personal accounts. Use vendor session lists and a controlled test invitation rather than guessing passwords. If serial release or ownership transfer requires vendor action, obtain written completion before assuming the device is ready for sale or continued shared use.
15. Handle disputes and safety concerns separately
If there is stalking, harassment, coercion, injury or disputed ownership, prioritize personal safety and appropriate professional or authority support. Do not alert a suspected abuser by changing settings if doing so could increase danger. Preserve minimal evidence securely and avoid ordinary shared channels. This checklist is general information, not individualized legal or safety advice. A routine exit workflow may be unsafe in a high-risk situation.
16. Decide whether a reset is necessary
A factory reset may be appropriate for a clear ownership transfer, but it is not automatically required when one resident leaves. First preserve needed records, close cloud access, remove integrations and understand what the reset actually erases. Use the manufacturer’s exact procedure and verify cloud deletion separately. Do not reset during a dispute or incident merely to make the interface look clean; that can remove evidence without ending remote access.
17. Create a signed-off handover record
List completed steps, unknowns, retained data, support cases, subscriptions and physical accessories. Mark each control pass, fail, not applicable or unknown. Exclude passwords and intimate content. Both parties may acknowledge facts without waiving rights or agreeing on every dispute. The record should state a narrow operational status and name who owns each unresolved action, preventing a verbal promise from becoming the only evidence.
18. Review again after the transition
Recheck account sessions, router clients, remote access, billing and cloud deletion after several days. Watch for unexpected invitations, commands or recovery attempts. Update the household baseline and schedule the next security review. The transition is complete only when former access is demonstrably closed, remaining residents understand current sensors and permissions, and unresolved retention or ownership questions have a documented owner and deadline.
How to record the result
Use a dated worksheet and mark each check pass, fail, not applicable or unknown. Include the exact model, hardware revision, software version, source links, support case numbers and the person responsible for every unresolved item. Keep passwords, access tokens and intimate recordings outside the worksheet. Unknown is not pass, and a successful reboot does not prove battery safety, account integrity or cloud deletion.
Ask a second person to reproduce the most important checks before unrestricted use, transfer or disposal. The final decision should be narrower than the evidence: for example, approved for supervised local testing on an isolated network. Reopen the checklist after repair, account transfer, major update, battery event, household change or vendor-policy change.