Apple settles Siri "Eavesdropping" lawsuit for $95 million

New Delhi: Apple has agreed to a $95 million settlement to resolve a class-action lawsuit alleging its voice assistant, Siri, illegally recorded users' conversations without their consent. 

The lawsuit, filed in 2020, claimed that Siri was activated even without the "Hey Siri" trigger phrase, capturing private conversations which were then allegedly shared with third parties.

The settlement, filed in federal court this week, covers millions of US users who owned iPhones and other Apple devices with Siri functionality between September 2014 and the end of last year. While denying any wrongdoing, Apple has agreed to pay up to $20 per eligible device, with a maximum of five devices per claimant.

The lawsuit alleged that Apple violated user privacy by recording and sharing conversations without explicit consent, potentially capturing sensitive personal information. Plaintiffs claimed this practice contradicted Apple's strong public stance on privacy and data protection.

"While we maintain that we did nothing wrong, we believe this settlement is in the best interests of our customers," an Apple spokesperson stated. "We are committed to protecting user privacy and have enhanced Siri's functionality to ensure users have clear control over when and how their data is used."

The settlement still requires court approval. If approved, a significant portion of the settlement fund will be allocated to legal fees, with the remainder distributed to eligible claimants. Experts predict that individual payouts will be relatively small due to the large number of potential claimants.

This settlement follows similar cases involving voice assistants and privacy concerns. In 2023, Amazon settled a lawsuit related to its Alexa voice assistant for over $30 million.