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Apple has firmly denied allegations that its Siri voice assistant compromised user privacy, following a $95 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit.

The tech giant emphasized that it has never sold Siri-collected data nor used it for marketing profiles, directly addressing claims from the lawsuit which accused Apple of recording private conversations without consent and sharing them with advertisers.

This lawsuit, representing millions of Apple device users, alleged that Siri could activate without explicit user command, leading to unauthorized recordings. However, Apple maintains that it does not admit to any wrongdoing with this settlement, which allows affected users to claim up to $20 per device.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Apple clarified, “Apple has never used Siri data to build marketing profiles, never made it available for advertising, and never sold it to anyone for any purpose.”

The company further explained that Siri's functionality only uses the minimum data necessary, and any audio recordings are kept only if users opt into Siri's improvement program, where the data is used exclusively for enhancing the service.

The clarification comes after social media reactions suggested the settlement was an admission of privacy breaches by Apple. The company stressed its commitment to privacy, noting ongoing efforts to enhance Siri's privacy features.

This situation reflects broader privacy concerns in the tech industry, particularly with voice assistants. Notably, Google faces a similar legal challenge in California over its Voice Assistant, with the same attorneys involved in both cases.

Apple’s response underscores the intense scrutiny tech companies are under regarding data privacy, especially with voice-activated technologies, as they navigate balancing innovation with user data protection.

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