Apple has agreed to pay $95 million in a class-action settlement that claims Siri’s secret conversations were unwittingly recorded and listened to by third-party contractors.
If US District Judge Jeffrey White approves the proposed ruling, filed Tuesday in Oakland, CA, federal court, affected users will receive up to $20 for an Apple device with Siri, such as the iPhone and Apple Watch.
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The lawsuit centers on customer complaints that Siri acted unintentionally and a 2019 report from a whistleblower about The guard that Apple contractors heard voice recordings while performing quality control checks. This includes “confidential medical information, drug deals, and recordings of couples having sex,” according to the investigation. Siri is supposed to start working when it hears the word “hey Siri,” but there have been reported cases of Siri being triggered by other things — like the sound of a zipper, the Apple Watch being magnified a certain way, and hearing a voice.
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Apple users say private conversations were recorded and shared with third-party advertisers. They would then see advertisements for products mentioned in certain interviews and even surgical treatment after discussing it with their doctor. Apple then issued an official apology and said it would no longer save the voice recording.
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The case spans from Sept. 17, 2014, to Dec. 31, 2024. For Apple users to claim their share of compensation, they must submit a claim for five Apple devices with Siri (iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, MacBook, iMac, HomePod, iPod touch, or Apple TV) and swear under oath to unwittingly activate Siri “during a conversation intended to be private or confidential,” the settlement proposal says.
Apple isn’t the only company in trouble for privacy breaches by voice assistants. Google is in the midst of a similar class-action lawsuit over Google Assistant being launched without its wake-up words.