Apple Inc. has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a privacy lawsuit filed over its Siri voice assistant, Reuters reported today.

The company filed the proposed settlement late Tuesday with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, which is overseeing the case. The agreement will have to be approved by a judge before it goes into effect. The hearing that will decide the matter is scheduled for Feb. 14.

The litigation began in 2019 after a whistleblower told The Guardian that Apple had sent recordings of some Siri conversations to quality assurance teams. Those teams were tasked with determining whether users activated Siri deliberately or by accident. When the practice came to light, Apple detailed that the recordings it used for this purpose represented less than 1% of daily interactions with the assistant.

The lawsuit revolved around two main allegations. It charged that Apple breached users’ privacy and shared Siri recordings with third parties, notably advertisers. 

Some of the plaintiffs named in the lawsuit said they received ads for products such as Air Jordan sneakers after mentioning them in the presence of a Siri-enabled device. In one case, a plaintiff reported receiving an ad for a surgical treatment after discussing it with a doctor. The lawsuit covers the period from Sept. 17, 2014, the day Apple rolled out the ability to activate Siri by saying “Hey, Siri,” and Dec. 31, 2024.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs proposed structuring the litigation as a class-action lawsuit. Had the court approved the request, the iPhone maker could have reportedly faced a potential fine of more than $1.5 billion. 

As many as tens of millions of consumers will be eligible to receive a portion of the $95 million Apple is paying to end the lawsuit. The company will pay up to $20 per Siri-enabled device. The list of eligible products includes the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, MacBook, HomePod, iPod Touch and Apple TV.

In addition to compensating affected customers, Apple has agreed to take a number of other steps. The company will give users the option to permanently delete recordings of their Siri conversations. It will also set up a website with information about the lawsuit and plans to notify eligible users that they may file for compensation. 

Apple’s push to end the litigation comes amid rumors that it plans to release a major overhaul of Siri. In November, sources told Bloomberg that the company is developing a new version of the assistant with performance comparable to ChatGPT. The upcoming release, which has been codenamed “LLM Siri” by Apple’s engineers, is expected to roll out in 2026.

Photo: Apple