Did Apple contractors listen to Siri recordings?

Yes. Apple used contractors to review, or "grade," some Siri requests in 2019, and the reviewers heard private material ¹. Apple suspended that practice after the reports ², and it said it would no longer keep Siri audio by default ³. The question is still useful today, because the rules have changed. Human review now depends on an opt-in setting, and the settlement that followed is a public record of the claims.

Contractors heard private material in 2019

The Guardian reported in July 2019 that Apple contractors regularly hear confidential medical information, drug deals and recordings of couples having sex as part of quality control for Siri ¹.

Apple said that less than 1% of daily Siri activations were used for grading, and that the clips were typically only a few seconds long ⁴. That is Apple's own figure. It describes the share of activations that were graded. It does not say how many people heard a given clip.

Apple suspended grading and changed its audio default

After the reports, Apple said it immediately suspended human grading of Siri requests and began a review of its practices ². It also changed the default. Apple said it would no longer retain audio recordings of Siri interactions by default, and that people could opt in to let Apple learn from audio samples ³.

Human review now requires you to opt in

For people who opt in to Improve Siri and Dictation, Apple says that only its own employees, under confidentiality obligations, can access the audio ⁵. Apple's setting is the point of control, so check it before you assume any review is happening on your account.

The 2025 settlement cost Apple $95 million

Reuters reported in January 2025 that Apple agreed to pay $95 million in cash to settle a proposed class action claiming Siri violated users' privacy ⁶. A settlement is not a finding that Apple broke the law, and the reports we read do not include a court ruling on the merits. Treat the amount as the price Apple agreed to pay to end the claim.

It depends on the device, the setting and the year

Whether a particular recording was reviewed depends on three things. The first is the period. The grading program was suspended in 2019, so the reports describe that practice, not what happens today. The second is whether you opted in. The third is the kind of request. On a Mac, Apple says general text Dictation is processed on your device and not sent to Siri servers ⁷. That is a different path from a Siri request that needs Apple's servers.

We could not find a source that says which recordings were sampled in the 2019 grading program, or whether any of your past recordings were reviewed. The sources do not say, and we would not guess.

What to do

1. On a Mac, open System Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Analytics & Improvements, and turn off Improve Siri & Dictation ⁸.
2. Check the Siri and Dictation history on each device. Our answer on whether Apple keeps your dictation recordings explains which history can be removed, and how long Apple may keep it.
3. If you want speech kept off a server, use a dictation tool that processes speech on your computer. Yap, which we make, is an on-device dictation app for Mac and Windows. For the term, see online speech recognition.

For the wider picture, read our guide to human review of voice recordings. For the other companies, see whether your phone is listening to you for ads and what the Google Assistant recording lawsuit was about.

For the full subject, see our overview of voice privacy.