Apple Agrees to \$95 Million Settlement in Siri Eavesdropping Lawsuit: How to File a Claim.
Apple Inc. has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit for the sum of \$95 million after it was accused of illegally recording its users’ private conversations using the voice assistant Siri without alerting them beforehand
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The lawsuit, Lopez v. Apple, which was filed in 2021, alleged that the Siri voice assistant was inadvertently activated and took private conversations and shared them with third parties, including advertisers. Though Apple does not admit any wrong, the settlement is aimed at solving the problem and compensating the affected users.
Who Is Eligible for the Siri Settlement?
The settlement includes U.S. resident owners or users of Siri-enabled Apple devices between September 17, 2014, and December 31, 2024. Eligible devices are iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, MacBooks, iMacs, Pods, iPod Touches, and AppleTV.
Users should have witnessed accidental initiations on Siri during private consultations. To be eligible, the claimants must present evidence of possession of the devices and swear under oath of the accidental triggers.
One user is entitled to a maximum payout of \$ 100, and they can get as much as \$ 20 per device upon claiming up to five devices. The total of the settlement is \$95 million, and \$30 million for legal fees and costs.
How to File a Claim
It is possible to claim on sufferers’ behalf by going to the official settlement website. The claims must be made on or before 2nd July 2025. Claimants need to add information about their devices and select their preferred mode of payment. A claim ID which users can receive either by email or postcard can help simplify the submission process. When no claim ID returns, the users can feed their details into the official website manually. A final approval hearing of the settlement is scheduled on 1st August 2025.
Apple’s Stance on the Allegations
Apple has been denying the claims, given that they have never used the Siri data to form marketing profiles or sell them to a third party. The company highlights the importance of its attachment to the users’ privacy and mentions that Siri data is being made anonymous and not connected with users’ personal data. Apple settled the case in order not to get involved in lengthy litigation and to address the concern regarding the third-party grading that was already addressed in 2019.
Implications for Users
Though it offers compensation to the affected, the settlement continues to trigger more concern of privacy on voice activated technologies. If privacy is a concern for the users, they should check the device settings, disable Siri, and add restrictions to the application access to their device’s microphone. For the people who think they qualify to get a claim, submission of the claims before the deadline guarantees one’s involvement in the settlement.
