Ask Siri, Dictation & Privacy outlines the default behavior for Siri and Dictation. If you opt in to Improve Siri and Dictation, additional data is collected, stored, and reviewed. For more information, visit www.apple.com/legal/privacy/data/en/improve-siri-dictation.

When You Make Requests, Siri Sends Certain Data About You to Apple to Process and Help Respond to Your Requests

When you use Siri, your device will indicate in Siri Settings if the things you say are processed on your device and not sent to Siri servers. Otherwise, your voice inputs are sent to and processed on Siri servers. In all cases, transcripts of your interactions will be sent to Apple to process your requests.

When you use Dictation, your device will indicate in Keyboard Settings if your voice inputs and transcripts for general text Dictation (for example, composing messages and notes, but not dictating in a search box) are processed on your device and not sent to Siri servers. Otherwise, the things you dictate are sent to and processed on the server.

When you use Siri and Dictation, your device will send other Siri Data to Apple, such as:

• Contact names, nicknames, and relationships (for example, “my dad”), if you set them up in your contacts
• Form of address, if set in language and region settings
• Music and podcasts you enjoy
• Names of your and your Family Sharing members’ devices
• Names of accessories, homes, scenes, shared home members in the Home app, and Apple TV user profiles
• Labels for items, such as people names in Photos, Alarm names, and names of Reminders lists
• Names of apps installed on your device and shortcuts you added through Siri

Siri Data, which also includes computer-generated transcripts of your Siri requests, is used to help Siri and Dictation on your iOS device and any Apple Watch, HomePod, or supported HomeKit accessory set up with your iOS device understand you better and recognize what you say.

Siri Data, including your Siri requests, is associated with a random, device-generated identifier. This random identifier is not linked to your Apple Account, email address, or other data that Apple may have from your use of other Apple services.

Siri Data is not used to build a marketing profile, and is never sold to anyone.

If you have Location Services turned on, the location of your device at the time you make a request will also be sent to Apple to help Siri and Dictation improve the accuracy of its response to your requests. To deliver relevant responses, Apple may use the IP address of your internet connection to approximate your location by matching it to a geographic region.

Only the Minimum Data Is Stored on Siri Servers

When you use Siri, Apple stores transcripts of your interactions with Siri and may review a subset of these transcripts to develop and improve Siri and Dictation, and other language processing features like Voice Control.

When you use Dictation, your device will indicate in Keyboard Settings if your voice inputs and transcripts for general text Dictation (for example, composing messages and notes, but not dictating in a search box) are processed on your device and not sent to or stored on Siri servers by default. Otherwise, Apple stores transcripts of the things you dictate and may review a subset of these transcripts to develop and improve Siri, Dictation, and other language processing features like Voice Control.

Your request history is associated with the random identifier for up to six months. Your request history may include transcripts, audio for users who have opted in to Improve Siri and Dictation, Siri Data, and related data such as device specifications, device configuration, performance statistics, and the approximate location of your device at the time the request was made. After six months, your request history is dissociated from the random identifier and may be retained for up to two years to help Apple develop and improve Siri, Dictation, and other language processing features like Voice Control. The small subset of requests that have been reviewed may be kept beyond two years, without the random identifier, for ongoing improvement of Siri.

If you choose to allow third-party apps to integrate with Use with Siri Requests, some data from these apps may be sent to Apple to help Siri understand your request, and portions of your request will be shared with the app to help provide a response or take an action (for example, send a message or book a ride). When Siri interacts with a third-party app on your behalf, you are subject to that app’s terms and conditions and privacy policy. If you choose to allow apps to use Siri for transcription, the voice data to be transcribed may be sent to Apple.

Your Siri settings will sync across your Apple devices using end-to-end encryption if you use iCloud. If you have set up Siri, a small sample of your requests will also sync using end-to-end encryption to improve personalized Siri recognition on each device. The personalized speech recognition models and your interactions with Siri and Dictation that are performed on device may leverage your on-device information to improve accuracy and model performance. The status of your nearby timers, alarms, shared media, and, if you opted in to Personal Requests on HomePod, phone call status, from your device and the proximity of such device may be shared locally with your nearby Apple devices for others to be able to control them from your nearby devices with Siri enabled.

You Have Choice and Control

You can disable Ask Siri or Dictation at any time. To turn off Ask Siri, go to Settings > Siri> Listen for and tap Off, then tap to turn off Talk to Siri, and go to Settings > Siri and tap to turn off “Press Home for Siri” or “Press Side Button for Siri”. To turn off Dictation, go to Settings > General > Keyboard, then tap to turn off Enable Dictation. If you turn off both Ask Siri and Dictation, Apple will delete Siri Data that is associated with the random identifier.

You can delete request history associated with a random identifier and retained for six months by going to Settings > Siri > Siri & Dictation History and tapping Delete Siri & Dictation History.

You can control which apps can integrate with Siri Requests at any time by going to Settings > Siri > Apps > [app name] > Use with Siri Requests.

You can turn off Location Services for Siri by going to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Siri, and tapping Never.

If you do not want Siri personalization to sync across your devices, you can disable Siri by going to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Saved to iCloud > See All, and tapping to turn off Siri.

You can also restrict the ability to use Siri & Dictation altogether by going to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Allowed Apps & Features and tapping Siri & Dictation.

You can control which apps use Siri for transcription in Settings > Privacy & Security > Speech Recognition.

By using Siri or Dictation, you agree and consent to Apple’s and its subsidiaries’ and agents’ transmission, collection, maintenance, processing, and use of this information to provide and improve Siri and dictation functionality in Apple products and services. Apple may process and store this information with trusted third-party service providers. At all times, information collected by Apple will be treated in accordance with Apple’s Privacy Policy, which can be found at www.apple.com/privacy

Published Date: September 20, 2024