Apple has always been at the forefront of the privacy debate and presented itself as the most “trustworthy” company ever. However, a recent The Guardian report found out that Apple Contractors were listening to confidential information of users. After this operation was uncovered, Apple quickly dissolved its program and apologized for not being more transparent. With the release of iOS 13.2, one of the features is the option to opt-out of the grading program and delete existing Siri recordings. Let’s burn those tapes.
Deleting your Siri and Dictation History
Apple, just like Google and Amazon, doesn’t delete your voice conversations with the digital assistants unless you manually do so. Before this update, if you wanted to delete your voice recordings with Siri or dictation transcripts, your only option was to disable Siri altogether. Fortunately, you don’t have to deprive yourself of Siri and its digital assistance to be able to delete your conversations now.
Start by updating your iPhone to the latest software version (iOS 13.2 and above) by navigating to Settings > General > Software Update > Check for Updates.
To delete the recording history, navigate to Settings > Siri & Search > Siri & Dictation History > tap “Delete Siri & Dictation History”. There you go, Apple will delete all the conversations with Siri in a few hours.
Opt-out of Siri Recordings Review by Apple
Even after you delete the recordings with Siri, it will continue to record more in the future. There is no option to turn it off permanently. However, you can stop Apple from using your Siri conversations for their internal usage and testing.
To opt-out, navigate to Settings> Privacy> Analytics & Improvements> Toggle “Improve Siri & Dictation” OFF.
That’s all you folks need to do to sleep peacefully at night without the worry of Apple hearing your conversations with Siri. While these features are significant improvements, there’s still one thing that I wish Apple had offered. An option to stop recording the conversations altogether. I guess that’s a topic for another day, what do you think? Hit me up on Twitter or in the comments below.