Apple Pays $95 Million to Settle Siri Privacy Lawsuit

Apple agreed to pay $95 million in cash to settle a proposed class-action lawsuit that claimed its voice-activated Siri assistant violated users’ privacy.

A preliminary settlement was filed Tuesday night in Oakland, California federal court and requires the approval of U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White.

Owners of mobile devices complained that Apple routinely busy their private conversations after they inadvertently activated Siri and exposed those conversations to third parties such as advertisers.

Voice assistants typically respond when people use “warm words,” such as “Hey, Siri.”

Two plaintiffs said their mentions of Air Jordan sneakers and Olive Garden restaurants triggered ads for those products. Another said he got ads for a surgical treatment after discussing it, he thought privately, with his doctor.

The class period runs from September 17, 2014 to December 31, 2024. It began when Siri incorporated the “Hey, Siri” feature that allegedly led to the unauthorized recordings.

Class members, estimated in the tens of millions, may receive up to $20 per Siri-enabled device, such as iPhones and Apple Watches.

Apple denied making a settlement.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company and its lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to similar requests. They can seek up to $28.5 million in fees plus $1.1 million in expenses from the settlement fund.

The $95 million is about nine hours of profit for Apple, if net income was $93.74 billion in its most recent fiscal year.

A similar lawsuit on behalf of users of Google’s voice assistant is pending in federal court in San Jose, California, in the same district as the Oakland court. The plaintiffs are represented by the same law firms as in the Apple case.

The case is Lopez et al v. Apple Inc., US District Court, Northern District of California, no. 19-04577.