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

Siri and Dictation

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 Apple servers. Otherwise, your audio is sent to and processed on Apple servers. Unless you opt in to Improve Siri and Dictation, your audio data is not stored by Apple. In all cases, transcripts of your interactions will be sent to Apple to process your requests and may be stored by Apple.

When you use Dictation, your device will indicate in Keyboard Settings if your audio and transcripts are processed on your device and not sent to Apple servers. Otherwise, the things you dictate are sent to and processed on the server, but will not be stored unless you opt in to Improve Siri and Dictation.

Apple will also store related request data, such as the category of request you made and whether it was completed successfully, device specifications, device configuration, performance statistics and, if you have turned on Location Services for Siri, the approximate location of your device at the time the request was made.

Your request history, which includes Siri transcripts and any related request data, is associated with a random identifier for up to six months and is not linked to your Apple Account or email address. After six months, your request history is disassociated from the random identifier and may be retained for up to two years. Apple may use this data to develop and improve Siri, Dictation, Search, and limited other language-processing functionality in Apple products and services. For example, transcripts may be used to fine-tune Siri, Search, Voice Control, Translate and automatic speech recognition models. Apple may also review a subset of the transcripts of your interactions, and this small subset may be kept beyond two years for the ongoing improvement of these products and services.

When you use Siri and Dictation, your device may send contextual data to Apple, including from third-party apps you allow to integrate with Use with Siri Requests, 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’s names in Photos, alarm names and names of Reminders lists
• Names of apps installed on your device and shortcuts you added through Siri

This data is associated with a random, device-generated identifier and is not linked to your Apple Account or email address. It is used by Apple only to determine whether Siri understood your request and to help your iOS device and any connected Apple device, such as your Apple Watch, HomePod or supported HomeKit accessory, understand you better and recognise what you say.

This contextual data, as well as your Siri transcripts and related request data, are not used to build a marketing profile and are never sold to anyone.

Third-Party Apps

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 Speech Recognition, the voice data to be transcribed may be sent to Apple.

Siri Suggestions

Siri Suggestions uses local, on-device processing to learn how you use your devices and apps in order to personalise your experience. Using information stored on your device, such as your Safari browsing history, emails, messages, images, notifications and contacts, as well as information donated or contributed by other installed apps, Siri can suggest shortcuts and provide suggestions in searches, share sheet, Calendar, Look Up, Visual Look Up, Safari, apps and more. For example, Siri may use on-device intelligence to suggest who to share a photo with in the share sheet based on who is in the photo. Suggestions may be used to personalise Apple services but are not stored on Apple servers or shared with other third-party apps. When you run a Siri-suggested shortcut, you are subject to the app’s terms and conditions and privacy policy.

Location Services

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

iCloud Syncing

Your Siri settings and Siri Suggestions personalisation 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 personalised Siri recognition on each device. The personalised speech recognition models and your interactions with Siri and Dictation that are performed on your 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 Siri, go to Settings > Siri > Talk to Siri and tap Off, then tap to turn off Talk to Siri, and go to Settings > Siri > Talk to 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 and Dictation transcripts that are associated with the random identifier.

You can delete Siri and Dictation transcripts that are 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 Allow Siri Requests at any time by going to Settings > Siri > Apps > [app name] > Use with Siri Requests.

If you do not want Siri Suggestions in apps, or when sharing, searching or listening, you can disable Siri Suggestions by going to Settings > Siri and tapping to turn off Show in App Library, Show in Spotlight, Show When Sharing or Show When Listening.
 
You can see and control the full list of features that Siri personalises and apps that Siri suggests shortcuts for in Settings > Siri. To stop apps contributing information to personalise Siri, go to Settings > Siri and tap the app name, then tap to turn off Learn from this App. To stop app clips from contributing information to personalise Siri, go to Settings > Siri > App Clips and tap to turn off Learn from App Clips.

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

If you have enabled Location Services, you can turn off Location Services for Siri Suggestions by going to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services and tapping to turn off Suggestions & Search.

If you do not want Siri personalisation 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, Dictation or Siri Suggestions, 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, Dictation, Search and limited other language-processing functionality in Apple products and services as described above. 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/uk/privacy.

Published Date: December 16, 2024