Apple users could get paid in $95 million settlement over Siri complaints — check if you're eligible

AI assistants are meant to make life easier for people at work and at home, but there have been concerns about privacy, since some devices have been caught collecting details of users without their knowledge. Global tech giant, Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging the company spied on its users through its voice assistant, Siri. The suit claims that Siri recorded private conversations of users without their consent and such conversations were potentially heard by third parties and advertisers. The proposed settlement, as reported by Bloomberg, could pay many US-based Apple product owners up to $20 per device if a judge approves it.

Tens of millions of consumers in the US who owned or purchased iPhones and other Siri-equipped devices between September 17, 2014, and the end of 2024, will be eligible to file claims.

While it is yet to be confirmed, users could get $20 for every Siri-enabled device, with a cap on the payments. According to CBS News, the final amount could be affected by the number of claims and how much is claimed to cover legal fees and costs.

As per the report, a claims administrator suggested that only 3% to 5% of eligible consumers will file claims, while the lawyers in the case are seeking nearly $30 million in fees and expenses. This figure could be lowered by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White, who is overseeing the case in Oakland, California. While the preliminary settlement was filed on December 13, 2024, a court hearing in February 2025 has been proposed to review the final settlement terms. 

The allegations were first made in 2019 when The Guardian reported that Apple employed contractors to listen to Siri recordings of private conversations of users. These conversations included topics such as medical appointments, sex life of users, and drug deals. A whistleblower claimed that while Siri is supposed to be triggered by 'hot words' such as "hey Siri", or "Hello", accidental triggers were common. The informant claimed that something as simple as the sound of a zipper could wake Siri up.

Apple admitted that only a small portion of Siri recordings were passed to contractors, and the company later issued a formal apology saying it would no longer retain recordings.  

The iPhone maker got into hot water as it did not explicitly state that there was human oversight of the voice assistant or that advertisers did not have access to the recordings. The Cupertino, California-based company issued a statement refuting the allegation in the lawsuit. "Apple does not retain audio recordings of Siri interactions unless users explicitly opt in to help improve Siri, and even then, the recordings are used solely for that purpose," Apple said, according to Reuters. The company further stated that it will continue to develop technologies to make Siri more private. 

Apple has also pushed back on the claims that it let advertisers target users based on Siri recordings. “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,” Nadine Haija, an Apple spokesperson told The Verge.

The company stated that the settlement does not mean an admission of guilt. “Apple settled this case to avoid additional litigation so we can move forward from concerns about third-party grading that we already addressed in 2019," the spokesperson added.