Apple has agreed to a $95 million settlement with users whose conversations were unintentionally captured by its Siri voice assistant, potentially overheard by human employees. The proposed settlement, reported by Bloomberg, could compensate many US-based Apple product owners up to $20 per device for owning up to five Siri-enabled devices, pending judicial approval.
If the settlement is approved, it will apply to a specific group of US-based individuals who purchased or owned Siri-enabled devices like the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, MacBook, iMac, HomePod, iPod touch, or Apple TV between September 17, 2014, and December 31, 2024. Additionally, users must declare under oath that they accidentally activated Siri during a private or confidential conversation. Individual payouts may vary based on the number of claimants, meaning applicants could receive less than the $20 maximum if many claim.
The class action lawsuit against Apple was initiated following a 2019 report by The Guardian, which revealed that Apple’s third-party contractors “regularly hear confidential medical information, drug deals, and recordings of couples having intimate moments” while working on Siri quality control. Although Siri is designed to activate with a specific wake word, a whistleblower claimed that accidental triggers were frequent, noting that even the sound of a zipper could activate Siri. Apple responded, stating that only a small fraction of Siri recordings were shared with contractors, and later apologized formally while announcing that it would cease retaining audio recordings.
The plaintiffs in the Apple lawsuit—including minors—asserted that their iPhones had recorded conversations using Siri multiple times, even when they had not used the wake word.
Apple is not alone in facing scrutiny regarding the privacy of voice assistants; Google and Amazon have also been accused of employing contractors to listen to recorded conversations, including those captured inadvertently. There is a pending lawsuit against Google regarding similar privacy issues.
