The ‘privacy king’ accidentally listened in on Siri due to iOS 15 bug

The privacy king accidentally listened in on Siri due to

Since the release of iOS 15, Siri on iPhone has been suffering from a software problem that causes it to sometimes record interactions without permission. With the release of iOS 15.2, Apple already released a fix. But the real solution to the problem won’t appear until iOS 15.4 rolls out to everyone.

With the release of iOS 15 for the iPhone, a software bug came to light. Namely, the update caused the Enhance Siri and Dictation section to be automatically enabled. And when that option is active, Apple is allowed to record, store and listen to your interactions with Siri. You then give permission to do so.

Siri listens in with you on iPhone

Normally, you give explicit permission to do that. But because of the bug, that happened unintentionally for, according to Apple, a “small proportion” of iPhone users. Since the discovery of the bug, Apple did remove all recordings that came in wrongfully, the company confirms to ZDNet.

Siri icon (Image: Apple, edit: OMT)

Additionally, for “a lot” of iPhone users, Apple disabled the feature again with the release of iOS 15.2. However, the issue will not be fully resolved until iOS 15.4 is available. The second developer beta also already contains a fix for the bug, so Apple has been working on it for a while.

Problem on privacy

This is a problem that Apple is – logically – trying to keep small. The company has an image as the “privacy king,” and things like this can tarnish that idea. This is something that Apple is obviously trying to avoid, as it repeatedly sells products like the iPhone with the message that this is a secure device.

It would behoove Apple if the company were more transparent about this. Now many users probably do not know that they are affected by such a problem. Nor do we know how many users are affected or when exactly the problems occurred. We have some idea, of course, but the disclosure is pretty sparse.

Exit mobile version