Apple last week agreed to pay $95 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that accused the company of recording customers using the Siri virtual assistant.
The settlement period covers a full decade, and given the ubiquity of Apple products, there's a good chance you'll be eligible for a piece of the payout. How much that'll be will depend on the number of claimants: The higher that number goes, the less each claimant gets. Still, it will pay out a certain amount per Siri-enabled device that you own.
The impact of this settlement has the potential to be wide-ranging, given the reach of Apple's product ecosystem. According to a Business of Apps report from November, citing company and market research data, there were roughly 155 million active iPhones in the US as of 2024, a number that's been steadily increasing since the product's debut. Similarly, active Apple TV streaming boxes in the US have also been increasing year to year, with over 32 million active in the US as of 2023.
To find out if you're eligible for this settlement, read on. You can also find out if you're eligible for the 23andMe data leak settlement.
Who sued Apple and why?
This class action lawsuit, Lopez et al v. Apple Inc., was first brought against Apple in 2019, with plaintiffs alleging that they were routinely recorded by their Apple devices after unintentionally activating the Siri virtual assistant, violating their privacy in the process. They further alleged that these recordings were then sold to advertisers and used to target them with ads online.
Specific incidents mentioned in the suit include plaintiffs seeing ads online for brands like Air Jordan and Olive Garden after Apple device users discussed them out loud. In some instances, plaintiffs claimed that their devices began listening to them without them having said anything at all. At least one plaintiff involved in the case was a minor when it was first filed.
Though it agreed to the settlement, Apple hasn't admitted any wrongdoing.
"Siri has been engineered to protect user privacy from the beginning," Apple said in a statement sent to CNET. "Siri data has never been used to build marketing profiles and it has never been sold to anyone for any purpose. Apple settled this case to avoid additional litigation so we can move forward from concerns about third-party grading that we already addressed in 2019. We use Siri data to improve Siri, and we are constantly developing technologies to make Siri even more private."
Who is eligible for this class action settlement?
The eligibility requirements for this settlement are fairly broad, as it's open to anyone who owned a Siri-enabled Apple device between Sept. 17, 2014, and Dec. 31, 2024. In order to opt in, you'll have to swear under oath that at some point during that period, you accidentally activated Siri on each device you want to get a payment for.
Siri-enabled devices include iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, MacBooks, iMacs, Apple TV streaming boxes, HomePod speakers and iPod Touches.
How can I get from the class action settlement?
Payments per device are to be capped at $20, though depending on how many people opt in to the settlement, claimants could receive less than that. Each individual can only claim payments for up to five devices.
At this stage, it's unclear when payments will be disbursed and how claimants will go about opting in. The settlement terms still need to be approved by a federal judge, with a hearing on the matter now scheduled for Feb. 14.
For more on Apple, see why a majority of users don't care for Apple Intelligence and find out which iOS setting can stop apps from tracking you.
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