Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging that its virtual assistant, Siri, recorded users’ conversations without their consent. The preliminary settlement, filed in December 2024 in Oakland, California, is awaiting approval by a U.S. district judge. The lawsuit claims that Apple failed to inform users that they were regularly being recorded when Siri was accidentally activated.
Two plaintiffs alleged that discussing products around their iPhones led to targeted ads, while another claimed he received medical ads after discussing a surgery with his doctor. If the settlement is approved, users who owned a Siri-enabled device between September 17, 2014, and December 31, 2024, and are based in the U.S., could be eligible to claim. Claimants will need to declare under oath that they experienced unauthorized Siri activations that recorded private conversations.
Apple has proposed a decision date of February 14, 2025. A website will be set up within 45 days to confirm eligibility, and users will have until May 15, 2025, to file their claims. The settlement amount per user could be up to $20 per device, with a maximum of $100 for owners of multiple devices.
Apple settles Siri lawsuit
The total payout may vary based on the number of approved claims, with a portion of the $95 million going towards legal fees. In response to the settlement, Apple stated, “Siri has been engineered to protect user privacy from the beginning.
Siri data has never been used to build marketing profiles and it has never been sold to anyone for any purpose.” The company emphasized that it has addressed concerns about third-party grading of Siri recordings since 2019. Apple maintains that it never used Siri recordings to target advertisements and that Siri’s data processing prioritizes user privacy. The company has made changes since 2019, including no longer retaining audio recordings of Siri interactions and only using computer-generated transcripts for improvement when users opt-in.
For users concerned about privacy, Siri can be disabled through device settings. On iOS devices, users can go to Settings > Siri > Talk to Siri > Off, and turn off “Press Home for Siri” or “Press Side Button for Siri.” On a Mac, Siri settings can be controlled through the Apple menu. This case highlights ongoing privacy concerns with voice assistants and mirrors a similar case against Google.
The law firm handling the Apple lawsuit is also pursuing action against Google for comparable issues.
