Earlier this year, Apple found itself in a spot when it was found that the company was using third-party contractors to manually grade personal Siri voice recordings of users. This led to quite a bit of an uproar as many users felt it violated their privacy. Following the backlash, Apple promised that it will allow users to delete their Siri recording and history and opt-out of the grading process altogether.
With the recently released iOS 13.2 update, Apple has finally made this feature available to all iPhone and iPad users. If a user wishes to, they can delete all their Siri and voice dictation history.
Why Delete Your Siri History and Dictation Recordings?
Earlier this year, a whistleblower revealed that Apple had hired third-party contractors who used to listen to and grade Siri recordings. These recordings frequently revealed private information of users without their consent.
Apple had tucked this clause in Siri’s terms and conditions that it could record their audio interactions for grading and improving Siri. While the company was stripping the audio recordings of all personal information to ensure it could not be traced back to the original user, it still spooked many users. For a company that gave privacy the utmost importance, this was considered unethical.
Apple improved its Siri grading program after the whole fiasco and it no longer saves your Siri audio recordings automatically. It also stopped enrolling people automatically in the grading program.
Apple does not send all the recorded Siri interactions and dictation for grading purposes. It only sends a small sample of the recordings to graders to improve Siri and voice recognition. The data that is not sent is stored in Apple’s servers and linked to your iPhone.
Even after all this though, if you are not too comfortable with your Siri and dictation recordings being saved on Apple’s servers, you can delete it from your iPhone or iPad. While you are at it, you might also want to stop sharing your Siri interactions and dictation with Apple altogether. Follow the guides below to know how.
How to Stop Sharing Siri Audio Recordings With Apple
Step 1: Open the Settings app and go to Privacy -> Analytics & Improvements.
Step 2: Toggle the Improve Siri & Dictation option to off.
With the option turned off, Apple will not store your Siri and dictation audio recordings and not use them for grading purposes as well.
How to Delete Siri Audio History
Step 1: Open the Settings app and go to Siri & Search -> Siri & Dictation History.
Step 2: Simply tap the Delete Siri & Dictation History and confirm your selection by tapping the option again from the dialog box that pops up.
If you are really paranoid about your privacy online, disabling Siri audio sharing and deleting your history will hopefully give you some peace of mind. Remember that Apple is still better than the likes of Google, Amazon, and Facebook in this regard.
