Dyson Spot+Scrub Ai robot vacuum first impressions: an impressive featureset but a disappointing app
All I want for Christmas is a Dyson robovac redemption
· TechRadarNews By Alistair Charlton published 23 December 2025
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Of all the reviews I've tackled in 2025, Dyson's new robotic vacuum cleaner arrived with the greatest air of excitement. No, really. I love my Dyson stick vacuum, was disappointed to discover how poorly Dyson's last robovac reviewed, and I'm a sucker for a good old-fashioned redemption story.
It's called, rather clumsily, the Spot+Scrub Ai. This is Dyson's attempt to redeem itself in the robovac world, by sprinkling a bit of the bagless, semi-transparent, cyclone tech magic that's made the British-Singaporean firm so successful in the posh vacuum space.
You'll have to hold tight for my full review, but my first impressions of the new bot are good. The disappointing 360 Vis Nav of 2023 failed to trouble TechRadar's best robot vacuum ranking. Despite possessing a sky-high price tag, it was purely a vacuum, with no mopping function and no self-emptying capabilities.
The Spot+Scrub Ai comes out firing on all cylinders with both of those functions present and correct. It's got a clever, roller-style mop that's fed by an onboard water tank, and a base station that charges the battery, cleans and dries the mop, and uses Dyson's cyclone technology to empty the robot's dust bin.
Pleasingly, the base station is bagless – something that's surprisingly rare in the robovac space. Instead of buying new bags every few months, and trying to work out what sort and size of bag the robot needs, you simply lift the dust collector out and empty it into a bin, as you would any other Dyson stick vac.
I'd rather the contents of the bin weren't visible through a clear plastic window, as if to display to visitors just how dirty my carpets were before they arrived, but I accept it's a design trait that echoes the rest of the Dyson aesthetic. I'd also like Dyson to include some mopping detergent in the box. Adding some to the water tank is one of the first instructions, yet it's sold separately for £19.99. For a £1,050 vacuum (US and AU price TBC) that feels a bit mean.
A bit of a dis-app-ointment
The setup process is simple enough, and especially so if you've used any other robotic vacuum cleaner. However, so far I've found the app a little disappointing – for a premium, tech-first firm like Dyson I'd expected better. It isn't unstable, nor is it full of the poorly translated English seen in rival vacuum apps, but it isn't particularly logical either, and I had issues editing my map after the bot failed to identify some doorways on its initial mapping run.
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