Apple's Siri: The Truth Behind Privacy and Marketing Myths Revealed!

Last week, Apple agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the unlawful recording of Siri interactions. This settlement has sparked conspiracy theories claiming that Siri is listening for targeted advertising, but Apple firmly denies these allegations.

Siri’s Privacy Controversy

The lawsuit originated from a 2019 report by The Guardian, which revealed that contractors were used to "grade" Siri interactions. Apple stated that less than 1% of daily activations were recorded for this purpose, and those recordings were not linked to user identities.

In response, Apple made significant changes to Siri’s privacy protections. Now, users can opt-in to help improve Siri, and only Apple employees can listen to audio samples. Any recordings from inadvertent triggers are promptly deleted.

Is Your iPhone Listening to You for Ads? Nope.

Fast forward to 2025, Apple settled the lawsuit to address ongoing concerns about third-party grading. In their statement, they emphasized that Siri data has never been used to build marketing profiles nor sold to any entity.

"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."

Despite the settlement, unfounded conspiracy theories have circulated, suggesting that Siri is always listening. Apple reiterated that no evidence supports such claims and that Siri interactions are tied to random identifiers, not personal information.

Users can manually review and delete Siri transcripts in the settings, and many requests are handled on-device, ensuring privacy.

9to5Mac’s Take

In conclusion, the rumors about Siri being used for targeted advertising are unfounded conspiracy theories. While Apple’s response to the initial concerns could have been more proactive, they have since strengthened Siri's privacy protections. The company remains committed to user privacy and transparency.