Judge approves $95 million Apple settlement over Siri privacy case

OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) — A federal judge sided with Siri users Thursday, approving a class action settlement against Apple for $95 million over its handling of the virtual assistant’s recordings.

In Lopez v. Apple , originally filed in 2019, the plaintiffs claimed Apple violated their privacy by recording their conversations through Siri without a “Hey, Siri!” voice command or a button press. The plaintiffs say users weren’t aware that humans, and not just computers, are reviewing audio.

The plaintiffs say Apple disclosed these conversations to human third-party contractors to review them to improve Siri or otherwise shared the data with advertisers to strengthen ad targeting.

Apple initially agreed inJanuary to pay the eight-figure amount, although the multitrillion-dollar company did not acknowledge any wrongdoing.

Senior U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White of the Northern District of California, a George W. Bush appointee, granted the approval. Neither Apple representatives nor attorneys for the plaintiffs responded to a request for comment.

Class members for the case include “[a]ll individual current or former owners or purchasers of a Siri device, who reside in the United States and its territories, whose confidential or private communications were obtained by Apple and/or were shared with third parties as a result of an unintended Siri activation between Sept. 17, 2014 to the Settlement Date [Dec. 31, 2024],” the plaintiffs say in the settlement motion.

In one settlement stipulation, if funds remain after all class members and attorney fees are paid, the leftover money will not revert to Apple. Instead, attorneys on both sides would meet to negotiate how to allocate remaining funds.

Under the settlement, each consumer with a claim could receive up to $20 per Siri-enabled device. Consumers are limited to five devices for their claims.

Claimants will receive emails with instructions on how to obtain the settlement funds, along with a media campaign to further inform those who may benefit from a settlement claim.

The attorneys in the case may seek up to $28.6 million from the settlement to cover their fees and other costs. The lawsuit’s lead plaintiffs may earn up to $10,000 each as compensation for their time and effort serving as class representatives.