{"id":145754,"date":"2019-07-30T20:10:24","date_gmt":"2019-07-30T20:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=145754"},"modified":"2025-07-01T21:37:44","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T04:37:44","slug":"siri-is-listening-in-on-your-private-conversations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/siri-is-listening-in-on-your-private-conversations\/","title":{"rendered":"Siri is listening in on your private conversations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-145755\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2021\/04\/700_Siri_imaigc.jpg\" alt=\"Siri\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s looking like Siri is one bad apple.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2019\/jul\/26\/apple-contractors-regularly-hear-confidential-details-on-siri-recordings\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">People working for Apple have heard users talking about confidential medical info, buying drugs, and even having sex<\/a>, according to an article from The Guardian.<\/p>\n<p>How are they hearing this? <strong>They&#8217;re doing it through Siri!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Contractors hired by Apple are paid to listen to user recordings. Their job is to grade the responses that Siri is giving to determine if it is functioning properly. <strong>The problem is that Siri sometimes picks up on something inappropriate, and has been known to wake and record unintentionally.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>These contractors are working to improve Siri&#8217;s human understanding so that it only wakes when it is supposed to wake up. They&#8217;re also working to make sure Siri actually says something of value when you ask it a question.<\/p>\n<p>When you hear about issues like this, the first thing that comes to mind is probably all of the issues with Amazon&#8217;s Alexa listening in on users. Unfortunately, Siri is just as guilty as Alexa.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-card-starred-link\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-starred-link__img\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/05\/alexaa-192.jpg\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__col-title\">\r\n        <p class=\"sc-card-starred-link__title\">Amazon Alexa keeps conversations forever and shares them<\/p>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-starred-link__button\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/amazon-alexa-privacy-concerns\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer sponsored\">Read now \u25ba<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-starred-link__link\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/amazon-alexa-privacy-concerns\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer sponsored\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<h2>Should I be worried?<\/h2>\n<p>This<strong> information came from a whistleblower who worked for one of these contracting firms.<\/strong> They chose to remain anonymous but came forward as they thought the lack of disclosure from Apple was so egregious.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement to the Guardian, Apple said that the recordings are not tied to a user&#8217;s Apple ID. <strong>\u00a0<\/strong>However, according to the whistleblower, the recordings typically come with location information, contact information, and app data.<\/p>\n<h2>What should I do if I have an iPhone?<\/h2>\n<p>We&#8217;re not going to act like there aren&#8217;t also security issues or concerns with Android.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-card-starred-link\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-starred-link__img\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2019\/03\/android-192.jpg\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__col-title\">\r\n        <p class=\"sc-card-starred-link__title\">Privacy scandal: Thousands of Android apps have been recording everything you do<\/p>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-starred-link__button\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/android-privacy-scandal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer sponsored\">Read now \u25ba<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-starred-link__link\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/android-privacy-scandal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer sponsored\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<p>There&#8217;s no need to throw your iPhone in the nearest blender. However, you might want to disable Siri from listening in on you. On your iPhone, go to Settings and choose &#8220;Siri &amp; Search.&#8221; From here, if you tell Siri to stop listening and if you remove the option to &#8220;Press Home for Siri,&#8221; <strong>you&#8217;ll get the option to turn it off altogether.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At<a href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/changes-coming-to-apples-ios\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Apple&#8217;s recent WWDC<\/a>, the company gave users tons of information in a huge privacy push that they are making. It looks like the company really needs to put more effort into how Siri works, and what she listens to without your knowledge.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-related-articles-white\">\r\n<p class=\"sc-related-articles-white__title\">More about Apple<\/p>\r\n  <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__row\">\r\n    <a title=\"How to save battery on your iPhone \u25ba\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/how-to-save-battery-on-your-iphone\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__article\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__image\">\r\n        <div style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/11\/iphone-battery-192.jpg)\"><\/div>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__text\">\r\n        <p>How to save battery on your iPhone \u25ba<\/p>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    <a title=\"How to best organize Macbook apps \u25ba\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/how-to-best-organize-macbook-apps\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__article\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__image\">\r\n        <div style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2019\/04\/mac-apps.jpg)\"><\/div>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__text\">\r\n        <p>How to best organize Macbook apps \u25ba<\/p>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__row\">\r\n    <a title=\"How to customize the Control Strip on your MacBook Pro \u25ba\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/how-to-customize-the-control-strip-on-your-macbook-pro\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__article\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__image\">\r\n        <div style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2019\/04\/mac-192.jpg)\"><\/div>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__text\">\r\n        <p>How to customize the Control Strip on your MacBook Pro \u25ba<\/p>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    <a title=\"How to use Apple\u2019s new Screen Time controls \u25ba\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/how-to-use-apples-new-screen-time-controls\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__article\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__image\">\r\n        <div style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/09\/iphone-X-192.jpg)\"><\/div>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-related-articles-white__text\">\r\n        <p>How to use Apple\u2019s new Screen Time controls \u25ba<\/p>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Siri has recorded drug deals, doctor visits, and even sexual activity! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9180,"featured_media":145756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[1015],"tags":[1066,1422,1083,1405,2232],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-145754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-apple","tag-apple-news","tag-ios","tag-iphone","tag-siri"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145754"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":325643,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145754\/revisions\/325643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145754"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=145754"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=145754"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=145754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}