$95M settlement over Siri eavesdropping accusations approved: How to make a claim

(NEXSTAR) — If Siri has ever been activated on your Apple device without your consent, you may be eligible to receive part of a $95 million settlement reached in a class action lawsuit.

A preliminary settlement submitted late last year was recently approved, paving the way for settlement members to make payment claims.

Here's what to know about the lawsuit and qualifying for a payment.

What is the lawsuit about?

The lawsuit, filed in 2019, claimed Apple’s virtual assistant, Siri, could be activated without the consent of the device's owner, and would then record conversations. That information was then provided to third parties, the suit alleges. 

The suit highlighted examples detailed in a report from The Guardian, which said it had learned from contractors that recordings included conversations people had with their doctors, “drug deals,” and other intimate moments. Two plaintiffs in the case said they received targeted ads regarding Air Jordan shoes and Olive Garden after speaking about them near an Apple device with Siri, according to Reuters.

The allegations about a snoopy Siri contradicted Apple's long-running commitment to protect the privacy of its customers — a crusade that CEO Tim Cook has often framed as a fight to preserve “a fundamental human right.”

“Siri has been engineered to protect user privacy from the beginning,” an Apple spokesperson said in a January statement to Nexstar. “Siri data has never been used to build marketing profiles and it has never been sold to anyone for any purpose. Apple settled this case to avoid additional litigation so we can move forward from concerns about third-party grading that we already addressed in 2019. We use Siri data to improve Siri, and we are constantly developing technologies to make Siri even more private.”

While Apple has denied wrongdoing in the case, the company agreed to the $95 million settlement.

Who qualifies for a payment?

The easiest way to know if you qualify is if you receive an email or postcard with a claim identification code and a confirmation code, the settlement website says.

To qualify, you must have had a Siri-equipped Apple device between September 17, 2014, and December 31, 2024. During that time, your "confidential communications" must have been "obtained by Apple and/or were shared with third parties as a result of an unintended Siri activation."

If you meet these qualifications and did not receive an email or postcard, you will be able to file a claim on the settlement's website.

How do I submit a claim in the Siri settlement?

If you received a postcard or email with a claim identification code and a confirmation code, you'll use that to make a claim online.

If you believe you qualify for the settlement and did not receive those codes, administrators say you can submit a new claim on the settlement website. There, you'll be asked to fill out a form with your contact information and details about your device (or devices) that may be impacted.

For the latter, you'll need to include the email address linked to the device and proof of purchase, like a receipt or an invoice. Without proof of purchase, you'll need to provide the serial number and model for each device.

How much can I receive from the settlement?

While the total payout is listed as $95 million, you shouldn't expect to become rich off the settlement.

You will be able to submit claims for up to five Siri-equipped devices that you believe were unintentionally activated during a conversation you meant to be confidential or private.

Qualifying Apple devices include:

• iPhones
• iPads
• Apple Watches
• MacBooks
• iMacs
• HomePods
• iPod touches
• Apple TVs

According to the settlement officials, you could receive up to $20 per qualifying Siri device, however, that amount could increase or decrease depending on the number of valid claims and Siri devices declared.

Tens of millions of people may qualify for the settlement, Reuters previously reported. Only 3 to 5 percent of eligible consumers are expected to file claims, according to estimates in earlier court documents.

What is the deadline to file a claim?

You do have some time to file a claim. The deadline is currently July 2, 2025, according to the settlement website. That is also the final day to exclude yourself or object to the settlement.

A final hearing is scheduled for August 1, 2025, which means approved payments will likely not arrive until later this year.

What else should I know about the Siri settlement?

Apple announced in 2019 that it had made changes to Siri to improve its privacy protections. Since those changes, audio recordings of Siri interactions are no longer retained and users are allowed to opt into helping improve Siri with audio samples of their interactions. Recordings collected from users who have opted in are only shared with Apple employees, the company says.

The settlement represents a sliver of the $705 billion in profits that Apple has pocketed since September 2014. It's also a fraction of the roughly $1.5 billion that the lawyers representing consumers had estimated Apple could been required to pay if the company had been found of violating wiretapping and other privacy laws had the case gone to a trial.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.