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No ban touches robots the FCC has already approved. For the longest US security support any maker has put in writing, Swept's pick is the Roborock Saros 20, dated by Roborock to March 1, 2028.
BuyLongest dated US update promise
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At a glance
No. The robot in your hallway is not contraband, and neither is the one you were about to order. On July 28, 2026 the FCC put foreign-made robots on its Covered List. That stops new models from being approved. Every robot approved before that day stays legal to buy and use, repairs included. Makers may keep sending it updates until at least January 1, 2029. That date is permission, not a promise. The question that matters is which maker has written down how long it will patch your exact US model. Only Roborock does, model by model. Its longest date belongs to the Roborock Saros 20: March 1, 2028. Swept's pick for a buyer worried about the ban is the Saros 20, in a home where the pets never have accidents indoors.
The FCC added "foreign-produced advanced robotic devices" to its Covered List. An FCC spokesperson confirmed robot vacuums are included. Nothing on the list can get new FCC equipment approval, so a new foreign-made model can't be imported or marketed here. The definition is wide. It covers a robot that finds its own way, carries a sensor, talks over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and is above a low weight limit with its dock. Every self-emptying or mopping robot you've heard of fits.
The FCC's own FAQ is plain about the rest. Models approved before July 28 can still be imported and used. Owners face no restrictions at all. Repairs with identical parts are allowed. A separate FCC order lets makers keep sending software and security fixes until at least January 1, 2029.
"Foreign" means where the robot is made, not who owns the brand. To count as domestic, a robot must be built here with roughly two-thirds of its parts, by cost, from here. That rises to three-quarters in 2029. The FCC calls the rule "country neutral". It cares where the robot was screwed together, not where the company's lawyers sit.
The reason given is security. The FCC pointed to a researcher who reached about 7,000 DJI robot vacuums through a cloud flaw. A foreign-made model can still get in with a conditional approval from the Department of War. That needs a plan to move manufacturing to the US. One robot vacuum has one: Matic's, approved October 2, 2026. Don't read it as a security grade. As Consumer Reports' privacy staff put it, the process asks "not one question about encryption."
Buy on the maker's written promise, because the FCC's 2029 date obliges nobody. Roborock is the only maker here that dates security updates for each US model. Some rivals publish dates for other markets only, which tell you nothing about the robot sold here. eufy and Matic publish none at all. The Saros 20's date is the latest. The Qrevo Curv 2 Flow runs nearly as long, to February 15, 2028, and it's our choice elsewhere for thick rugs on hard floors that must stay dry. For a buyer choosing on support alone, the Saros 20's later date wins.
BuyLongest dated US update promise
Price band: under $1,600
Roborock promises security updates for "a minimum of 2 years". Then it does what no rival here does: it publishes the end date for each US model. For the Saros 20, model RRE0CPS, that's March 1, 2028. I spent a career reading supplier promises. The only ones worth the paper had a date and a part number on them, and this is the one robot promise here that does. Read the small print, though. Roborock counts the two years from the model's launch, not from the day you buy. A robot bought this month gets a little over a year of dated support. The date belongs to the plain Saros 20; the Flow and Sonic are different robots. Roborock filed for FCC approval in December 2025, so the rule doesn't touch it.
Life after March 2028 is better prepared for than most. The Hook Up cut it off from the internet for three days and could still send it to chosen rooms from Apple Home. Matter talks to the robot directly. Roborock's US manual also explains how to take it off Wi-Fi for good. Press and hold Reset until the robot speaks; its Wi-Fi shuts itself down five minutes later. Either way it keeps cleaning from its own buttons.
It's a very good robot, too. Roborock promises a 1.8 in (45 mm) step and undersells itself: testers saw it go up and down a 2 in (50 mm) one. That's why it's also the robot we pick elsewhere for a house with a step down into the den, as long as the pets are house-trained. Long hair leaves its brush alone, and labs found it strong on pet hair.
Where it lets dog owners down is the mess they fear most. In RTINGS' testing it couldn't be trusted to steer around pet waste. Other testers saw it roll straight through the fake poop. In a home where accidents happen, we'd skip it.
Want support in writing, and is the dog reliably house-trained? Then we'd buy it. Pet accidents change the answer. If your floors are mostly wood, tile or vinyl and the dog still slips up now and then, our pick is the eufy Omni S2. It avoided pet waste every time RTINGS tested it. eufy publishes no update period, so you trade a written date for a clean hallway. If you have steps between rooms as well as accidents, the Dreame X60 Max Ultra Complete handles both. In RTINGS' lab it kept clear of the fake mess run after run, and it gets up the same tall thresholds the Saros 20 does.
Some readers will ask about the older Roborock Saros 10R. It suits a hard-floor home with low thresholds and only a light shedder, where dog mess is the worry. It dodges pet waste well, and Roborock dates its support to June 30, 2027. But labs disagree sharply on how much pet hair it actually lifts, so for that home we'd wait on it rather than buy.
The Dreame is also our best robot vacuum for pet hair, for a mostly carpeted home with a pet that sheds hard, though Dreame dates no US updates. If updates aren't your worry at all, our pick for most homes is the ECOVACS DEEBOT T90 Pro Omni, which costs a good deal less. The full story is in our Roborock Saros 20 review.
| Robot | Still legal to buy and use? | Owner | Where it's made | Updates dated for the US model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roborock Saros 20 | Yes; FCC filing Dec 2025 | Roborock | Outside the US | To Mar 1, 2028 |
| Roborock Q7 M5+ | Yes; launched 2025 | Roborock | Outside the US | To Jun 4, 2027 |
| iRobot Roomba 105 Vac | Yes; 2025 line-up | Picea (China) | Outside the US | None confirmed |
| Shark AI Ultra AV2501S | Yes; older model | SharkNinja (US-based) | Outside the US | None confirmed |
| Matic | Yes; the only robot vacuum with FCC conditional approval | Matic Robots (California) | Assembled in California from US and imported parts | None published |
All fourteen models we weighed are in the full table at the end of the page. Roborock grew out of Xiaomi's ecosystem but is its own listed company today; Xiaomi holds a small stake. eufy belongs to Anker Innovations, headquartered in Changsha. To check a robot you own, the FCC says to look up the FCC ID on its label. Robots approved by supplier's declaration, like the Dreame, carry compliance information instead.
Not because of the FCC. Its FAQ answers "are there any restrictions on consumers' ability to use" these robots in one word: no. The real risk is older: a maker switching off its cloud. Neato did it in October 2025. Owners kept robots that clean at the press of a button, but lost the app and everything it ran. That's why we weigh Matter and a published Wi-Fi off switch alongside the update date. Both let a robot carry on without its maker's servers.
Until at least January 1, 2029 the FCC allows them. Whether your maker bothers is up to them. The only dated US promises come from Roborock, ending between May 2027 and March 2028. After that, we'd expect a robot to keep cleaning and slowly stop getting fixes. That's the case for a robot that can run offline.
Yes, by ownership. iRobot went through Chapter 11. Picea, the Chinese company that already built some Roombas, has owned all of it since January 23, 2026. Headquarters stay in Bedford, Massachusetts. US customer data sits with a US subsidiary, iRobot Safe, whose board is made up of US citizens. iRobot's CEO said the app and firmware updates carry on. A new line of Roombas reached US buyers in July.
The worry worth keeping is quieter. Consumer Reports' August 2026 member surveys rate iRobot middling for reliability and below par for owner satisfaction. And iRobot has published no update date for its US robots.
If you're a Roomba loyalist who wants no mop at all, the new Roomba Max 715 Vac is the one to watch. iRobot calls it a "Next-Gen Upgrade". So far only one home tester has run it, and that tester's dock never once got the robot's bin fully clear, even when there was little in it. No lab has measured it yet. We'd wait for one.
One comes close. Matic assembles its robot in Mountain View, California, and calls it the only robot vacuum assembled here. Its co-founder concedes it doesn't yet meet the FCC's domestic-parts test. Under the FTC's rules, nothing on this page can honestly say "Made in USA". Shark calls itself a US company, but its robots are made abroad. The rule treats them like anyone else's.
Matic deserves credit for building here, and for how it handles clutter. RTINGS watched it get around its obstacle course on hard floor and carpet without needing rescue, even in the dark. As a cleaner it disappoints. RTINGS found it won't keep a multi-surface home clean, and it steers around stains as if they were furniture. At 7.8 in tall, it gets under nothing low. Matic publishes no security update period either. We admire it. We wouldn't buy it to make a point.
Don't. For a covered robot the FCC never approved, the FAQ's answer to using it here is "generally no". That rules out the DJI Romo and other overseas launches.
SkipSkip: no US update date
Price band: under $200
iRobot's box says its lidar "avoids obstacles". Just A Dad Approved tested this exact plain-dock robot and found avoidance "practically nil". It runs over cables and small toys, and long hair wraps its bristle roller. iRobot has published no security-update date for the US robot. There's no Matter, and Home Assistant's Roomba integration doesn't work with it. Annoying on a cheap robot; serious on one you're buying for support.
If your place is compact and gets picked up before each run, with a short-coated pet at most, the Roborock Q7 M5+ has a written date, June 4, 2027, and empties itself too. We'd skip the 105 and buy that. If your budget stops under $300 and the home is a small hard-floor one where any pet has a short coat, our best robot vacuum under $300 is the Tapo RV30 Max Plus, which also empties itself, though TP-Link dates no US updates.
SkipSkip: US brand, foreign-made, no US date
Price band: under $450
Buyers reach for Shark because it's a US company. Under this rule that buys you nothing. Its robots are made abroad, and Shark dates no updates for this one. The box promises it will detect and avoid objects "day or night". It has no camera, and in a three-month home test it kept knocking into furniture.
The catch that settles it is the app. Two owners of this exact model report it losing its connection or forgetting the kitchen. In July 2026 a flaw in Shark's cloud let a researcher send commands to other people's Shark robots. SharkNinja says it's fixed, and this model wasn't named. But this robot needs that cloud for maps and schedules. For a small hard-floor home with no shedder, the Tapo RV30 Max Plus can run over Matter without leaning on the maker's cloud. We'd skip the Shark and buy that.
BuyLongest dated US update promise
Buy the Roborock Saros 20. It stays legal, and its maker is the only one here to write down the day its US updates end. It also has an offline fallback for afterward. Keep the floor clear of pet accidents and it will serve you well past the headlines.
The full table, all fourteen models.
| Robot | Approved before July 28, 2026? | At its maker today | Owner | Where it's made | Updates dated for the US model |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roborock Saros 20 | Yes; FCC filing Dec 2025 | Current | Roborock | Outside the US | To Mar 1, 2028 |
| Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 Flow | Yes; FCC filing Sept 2025 | Current | Roborock | Outside the US | To Feb 15, 2028 |
| Roborock Saros 10R | Yes; launched 2025 | Current | Roborock | Outside the US | To Jun 30, 2027 |
| Roborock Q7 M5+ | Yes; launched 2025 | Current | Roborock | Outside the US | To Jun 4, 2027 |
| Roborock Qrevo S Pro | Yes; FCC filing Feb 2025 | Current | Roborock | Outside the US | To May 5, 2027 |
| Tapo RV30 Max Plus | Yes; launched early 2025 | Current | TP-Link | Outside the US | None confirmed |
| iRobot Roomba 105 Vac | Yes; 2025 line-up | Unclear; iRobot now lists only the self-emptying bundle | Picea (China), since Jan 2026 | Outside the US; iRobot builds in China and Vietnam | None confirmed |
| iRobot Roomba Max 705 Vac | Yes; 2025 line-up | Replaced by the Max 715 in iRobot's line-up | Picea (China) | Outside the US | None confirmed |
| iRobot Roomba Max 715 Vac | Yes; US launch early July 2026 | Current | Picea (China) | Outside the US | None confirmed |
| ECOVACS DEEBOT T90 Pro Omni | Yes; launched at CES 2026 | Current | ECOVACS | Outside the US | None confirmed |
| Dreame X60 Max Ultra Complete | Yes; supplier's declaration, early 2026 | Current | Dreame (China) | China, per its US manual | None confirmed |
| eufy Omni S2 | Yes; US launch March 2026 | Current | Anker Innovations (China) | Outside the US | None published |
| Shark AI Ultra AV2501S | Yes; older model | Current | SharkNinja (US-based) | Outside the US | None confirmed |
| Matic | Yes, plus FCC conditional approval Oct 2, 2026 | Current | Matic Robots (California) | Assembled in Mountain View, California, from US and imported parts | None published |
The FCC documents. The Covered List entry (updated October 23, 2026) names "Foreign-produced advanced robotic devices, except advanced robotic devices which have been granted a Conditional Approval by DoW". The FAQ (updated October 2, 2026) sets out the definition and the country-neutral domestic test, and confirms that approved models and their owners are untouched. It also allows repairs with identical parts and tells owners to check the FCC ID on the label. DA 26-789 (July 28, 2026) is the Office of Engineering and Technology waiver allowing updates to devices authorized before July 28 "at least until January 1, 2029"; it permits updates and obliges no one. The same office extended a similar drone deadline in May 2026, the only precedent for an extension. DA 26-1063 (October 2, 2026) grants Matic's robot 4MA0001 and dock 4DK0008 conditional approval, which stays in force while Matic follows its onshoring plan and has no end date. The National Security Determination and the Department of War guidance were not readable to us; their content here comes from the FAQ and Consumer Reports.
Authorization evidence, model by model.
Update promises. Roborock's US policy promises at least 2 years "from the date of sale on the Roborock official website"; its global list gives launch and end dates per US model code, two years apart: RRE0CPS March 1, 2026 to March 1, 2028; RRE0BEL February 15, 2026 to February 15, 2028; S91COP June 30, 2025 to June 30, 2027 (US launch was earlier); RRA0TCP June 4, 2025 to June 4, 2027; RRE0PEE May 5, 2025 to May 5, 2027. Separately, that global page lists Roborock app security support to December 31, 2026. For iRobot, Shark, Dreame, ECOVACS and Tapo we found no dated security promise covering the US model, so the US models are listed as none confirmed. eufy's US disclosure policy sets fix deadlines but no support period. Matic's privacy policy promises safeguards but no period, and its security pages return "Page not found".
When a cloud closes. Neato's announcement says its robots keep running a full-house clean from the button after the phase-out; app control and schedules go with the cloud. Neato had promised app support well beyond 2025.
Brand statements after July 28. Four brands, ECOVACS, eufy, Narwal and Shark, told Vacuum Wars their current US robots keep their support. iRobot would only say it was studying the rule's impact. No on-record statement from Roborock or Dreame was found.
Disagreements that don't change the call.
What we don't know. FCC grant dates for iRobot's 2026 line and the Max 715's FCC ID; whether any maker other than Roborock will publish dates for US models; whether Roborock will extend its dates as the 2029 waiver allows; and whether Matter control keeps working on these robots for months, not days, without the internet.
Research count. 14 models weighed; 11 maker manuals among them; across this site's research, 497 sources kept in full; 148 Reddit threads read, kept as the reader's summary, not in full.