Is Your Privacy Protected When Recording Videos for sMiles?

Yes—according to sMiles, the video tasks are designed so that no face recording is required. You record point-of-view (POV) footage of everyday activities like cooking, cleaning, or gardening, and the site states your privacy is secured. That said, "no face required" is a task design choice, not a guarantee about everything that might end up in frame, so it's worth understanding what the tasks actually involve before you start.

What the video tasks actually are

sMiles pays for short POV videos of your daily chores and routines. The stated purpose is AI training: the company says AI needs real-world video, and your phone camera supplies it. The site lists 70+ tasks and a top task rate of $4–$12/hr, paid per approved hour of footage.

The workflow, per sMiles:

Download the sMiles app and the Minute Data app.
Create a Minute Data account, accept the terms, and link it to sMiles.
Open the Minute Data app and record paid POV video tasks from home.
Open sMiles to track rewards as tasks are completed.
Get paid via Bitcoin (Lightning), gift cards, or stablecoins.

Where the privacy protection comes from

The main safeguard sMiles describes is that no face recording is required. Because the tasks are POV shots of chores—your hands cooking, a counter being wiped, a garden being watered—the camera is pointed at the activity, not at you.

That matters for two reasons:

It reduces what identifying information enters the footage. A POV shot of a stovetop doesn't inherently identify you the way a talking-head video would.
It keeps the task focused on the action. The AI training value is in the chore being performed, not in who is performing it.

What "no face required" does not cover

This is the part worth thinking through before you record. A POV video can still capture things you may not want to share:

Background details in frame—family photos, mail, screens, windows showing your street
Voices or conversations picked up on audio
Distinctive rooms, pets, or belongings that could identify your home
Reflections in mirrors, windows, or appliances

sMiles' statement addresses face recording specifically. It does not say the footage is stripped of all identifying content, and it does not describe an on-device blurring or anonymization step. So the practical privacy control is largely in your hands: what you point the camera at and what's in the background.

A practical way to record with privacy in mind

If you want to do these tasks while limiting exposure, treat each recording like a short, deliberate shot:

Frame tightly on the task. Aim at the pan, the counter, the plant—not the room.
Check the background before you hit record. Move the phone or move the object so mail, screens, and photos are out of frame.
Record without narration unless a task specifically asks for it, so you're not adding a voice track.
Avoid mirrors and reflective surfaces that could show you or your space.
Do one test upload first and review the clip yourself before submitting, so you know what a typical approved task looks like.

The review and payout side

sMiles states a typical review time of about 4 hours before earnings land, with final approval taking up to 6 weeks. That review step is about validating the footage for the task, not a privacy feature—so don't count on it to catch something you'd rather not have submitted. Once a clip is uploaded and approved, it has served its purpose as training data.

Bottom line

sMiles' video tasks are built so you don't have to show your face, and the company says your privacy is secured—that's a meaningful starting point for anyone uncomfortable being on camera. But the protection is mostly structural (POV shots of chores) rather than a technical anonymization guarantee. If you control your framing and background, you can complete these tasks while keeping your identity and home details out of the footage. If a task ever seems to require showing your face or your surroundings in a way you're not comfortable with, you can simply skip it—there are 70+ tasks, and not all of them will fit every situation.