Apple settles Siri privacy lawsuit

On 31/12/2024, Apple Inc. agreed to a $95 million settlement to resolve a class action lawsuit titled Lopez v. Apple Inc., which alleged that Siri recorded private conversations without user consent. The case, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, claimed that Siri could be unintentionally activated by sounds that resembled its trigger phrase, leading to the capture of confidential conversations. Plaintiffs alleged that some of these recordings were later reviewed by third party contractors as part of Apple’s quality grading program. According to court filings, the lawsuit stated that accidental activations were triggered by noises such as zipper sounds or background speech, causing Siri-enabled devices including iPhones, iPads, Apple Watch, and HomePod to record audio snippets. The plaintiffs argued that these recordings sometimes contained sensitive discussions and were shared with external reviewers to improve Siri performance. Apple had previously acknowledged using human reviewers for a subset of anonymized recordings, a practice it paused in 2019 before introducing new privacy controls, including on-device processing and opt-in grading. The settlement established a $95 million cash fund to compensate eligible users while avoiding further litigation. Apple denied all wrongdoing as part of the agreement and did not admit liability. The company stated that Siri data had not been sold and was not used to build marketing profiles, emphasizing that the recordings were analyzed solely to improve accuracy. The settlement also required Apple to reaffirm disclosures about Siri activation and provide additional transparency regarding audio review practices. The agreement resolved claims without a trial, concluding several years of litigation related to Siri privacy practices and accidental activation behavior. Eligible users who owned Siri-enabled devices during the covered period were expected to be able to submit claims for compensation from the settlement fund following court approval.