The tech giant has agreed to pay $95 million to settle the secret listening scandal.

Apple, renowned for its staunch stance on user privacy, has found itself at the center of a legal storm concerning its Siri voice assistant. The tech giant recently agreed to a $95 million settlement to resolve a class-action lawsuit alleging that Siri violated user privacy by recording conversations without consent.

The settlement, pending approval by a U.S. District Court in Oakland, California, marks a significant moment in the ongoing debate over privacy in the age of AI and smart devices.

The allegations

The controversy surrounding Siri first gained public attention in 2019 after a report from The Guardian revealed that Apple contractors were listening to Siri recordings, sometimes capturing highly confidential details.

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Plaintiffs in the lawsuit claim that Siri activated and recorded conversations unintentionally, even without the wake phrase "Hey, Siri" or an intentional gesture. Worse, the recordings were allegedly shared with third-party advertisers, who used the data to target consumers with specific ads.

One plaintiff cited receiving advertisements for Air Jordan sneakers and Olive Garden shortly after casually mentioning them in conversations. Another claimed they were targeted with ads for a surgical treatment they had discussed privately with their doctor. Such incidents directly contradicted Apple’s public stance on privacy, which CEO Tim Cook has famously described as “a fundamental human right.”

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The class-action lawsuit, filed in California’s Northern District Court, argues that millions of users, including minors, were recorded without consent over a decade. This unauthorized surveillance reportedly began as early as 2011, with the addition of the “Hey, Siri” feature in 2014 exacerbating the issue.

Settlement details

Apple has denied any wrongdoing but has agreed to pay $95 million to settle the lawsuit. Eligible consumers who owned Siri-enabled devices from 17 September 2014, to 31 December 2024, can file claims for up to $20 per device, with a cap of five devices per individual. This compensation is expected to benefit tens of millions of users, although only 3-5% of eligible consumers are likely to file claims.

Of the $95 million settlement, up to $29.6 million may be allocated for attorneys’ fees and expenses. For Apple, the settlement represents a negligible financial hit, amounting to roughly nine hours of profit for a company that generated $93.74 billion in net income in its latest fiscal year, according to a Reuters report.

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The hearing on the case Lopez et al v. Apple Inc. - scheduled for February 2025 in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California - will almost certainly omit the new AI-powered “Apple Intelligence” system in the iPhone 16 model, which was unveiled in September 2024. The new feature allows users to search through photos, emails, and texts using natural language commands, making the Siri assistant even more central to the Apple ecosystem.

Apple's settlement is not an isolated case. A similar class-action lawsuit involving Google’s Voice Assistant is currently pending in the same federal district. These cases highlight the challenges of balancing technological innovation with user privacy, especially as AI becomes more deeply integrated into everyday devices.

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