Ok, they might be listening. Sometimes. Maybe.
Apple just settled a lawsuit for $95M over Siri 'accidentally' activating, and there's a lawsuit pending against Google for the same thing.
Happy Friday, friends!
Well, we’ve talked about this one before, but now we’ve got some new info!
Apple just agreed to pay a $95M settlement (which still needs to be approved by a judge) in a lawsuit brought against them for allegedly activating Siri surreptitiously on iPhones, Apple Watches, and other Apple devices and subsequently selling those recordings to advertisers. And lest you think this sort of lawsuit is unique to Apple, there’s also a similar lawsuit pending against Google and their voice assistant by the very same lawyers.
Read more on Reuters and AP News—you might be eligible for part of the settlement.
While Apple has admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement, I think we’ve all experienced a virtual assistant activating when we didn’t ask it to, so let’s just prevent that from happening altogether, shall we?
Quick note: We’re only disabling the voice activations “Hey Siri”/”Hey Google” here, not the actual assistants. These assistants can be disabled altogether if you want, but that’s not what we’re doing here.
Turn off “Hey Siri” listener on iPhone
On newer iOS devices:
- Open Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri
- Tap Talk & Type to Siri
- Tap Off for Siri/Hey Siri activation
On older iOS devices:
- Go to Settings > Siri & Search
- Turn off the switch next to Listen for Hey Siri
Turn off “Hey Google” listener on Android
- Open Google app
- Tap your Profile Icon
- Tap Settings
- Tap Google Assistant
- Tap Hey Google & Voice Match
- Turn off the toggle next to Hey Google
That should do it for today! Look out for that settlement claim notification, wouldn’t wanna miss out on that $20 windfall…
Keep on keepin’ on,
KL
