Recordings
Siri contractors heard confidential medical details
In 2019 a whistleblower said contractors grading Siri recordings regularly heard confidential medical information and intimate moments, mostly from accidental activations. Apple apologised and changed its practice.
On 26 July 2019 The Guardian reported, citing an anonymous whistleblower, that Apple passed a small share of Siri recordings to contractors for quality control. They graded whether the voice assistant had been activated deliberately and whether it had responded well.
According to the whistleblower, they regularly heard confidential medical information, drug deals and couples having sex. These recordings often came from accidental activations, most of them from Apple Watches and HomePod speakers. The recordings were not linked to Apple IDs, but according to the report the short clips sometimes revealed names and addresses, so the speaker could be identified. Apple said that less than 1 per cent of requests were analysed, in secure facilities and under strict confidentiality obligations.
A month later, on 28 August 2019, Apple apologised for not fully living up to its own standards. It suspended human grading and introduced new rules: by default it no longer keeps audio recordings of Siri requests, users have to opt in before their audio samples are used, and only Apple's own employees may listen to them. Recordings found to come from accidental activations are deleted.
In the United States a class action claimed that Siri recorded private conversations after unintended activations and disclosed them to third parties such as advertisers. Apple agreed to a $95 million settlement, reported by Reuters in January 2025, while denying wrongdoing. Under the settlement, up to $20 per device may be paid.
What can we learn from it?
A phone, a watch and a smart speaker are all microphones, and one accidental activation is enough for part of a conversation to reach the provider. Apple has tightened its rules since: by default it no longer keeps the audio, and using audio samples needs the user's consent – so a lot depends on the settings. It is worth going through them once: turn off sharing of audio samples if it is on, and for a session or a confidential meeting mute the voice assistant or take the device out of the room.
Sources
- Apple Newsroom: Improving Siri's privacy protections
- Silicon Republic: Whistleblower says Apple contractors hear Siri recordings
- Reuters (Yahoo Finance): Apple to pay $95 million to settle Siri privacy lawsuit
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