Apple has agreed to pay $95 million (approximately ₹810 crore) to settle a class-action lawsuit in the United States that accused the company of violating user privacy through its Siri voice assistant. The case, titled Lopez v. Apple, was filed in a federal court in California in 2021 and centered on allegations that Siri-enabled devices were unintentionally activating and recording private conversations without users’ consent.
The plaintiffs claimed these recordings were at times shared with third parties, including advertisers, raising serious concerns about unauthorized data collection. According to reports, the issue affected devices such as iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, MacBooks, iMacs, Apple TVs, HomePods, and even iPod Touches.
Individuals in the U.S. who owned any Siri-enabled device between September 17, 2014, and December 31, 2024, may be eligible for compensation. Users who believe their devices were inadvertently activated can submit claims to receive up to $20 per device, with a maximum payout of $100 per person for five devices. The final amount will depend on how many claims are filed.
Consumers can file claims on the official Lopez Voice Assistant Settlement website, with or without a claim ID. The deadline for submissions is July 2, 2025, and a final court approval hearing is scheduled for August 1, 2025.
Though Apple has denied any wrongdoing, it has agreed to the settlement to avoid extended litigation. The case was sparked by a 2019 investigation by The Guardian, which revealed that Apple contractors had access to audio recordings collected via Siri. Apple had said at the time that the data was used solely to improve Siri’s performance and that only a small percentage of interactions were reviewed manually.
Nonetheless, several users claimed they noticed ads related to private conversations, suggesting that sensitive data may have been misused—leading to the legal action and eventual settlement.