Find Out if You are Entitled to Settlement Money From Apple Class Action Lawsuit Involving Siri 'Recording Without Consent'

Per U.S. District Court case Lopez v. Apple Inc., if you owned or purchased a Siri enabled device and experienced an unintended Siri activation during a confidential or private communication between September 17, 2014, and December 31, 2024, you should read this notice as it may impact your legal rights.

Class Action Lawsuit against Apple Inc. related to Siri

Have you ever noticed a smart device activate without you saying the wake word?

It happens. One person filed a lawsuit against Apple Inc. after discovering that Siri recorded their private conversations without consent.

Apple Agrees to Pay Settlement in U.S. District Court Case

Here's what happened:

Apple agreed to pay out a class action settlement on Dec. 31, 2024, due to a lawsuit filed by California resident Funiko Lopez, who claimed in the lawsuit that "Siri conducted unlawful and intentional interception and recording of individuals' confidential communications with their consent and subsequent unauthorized disclosure of those communications."

The court case Lopez v. Apple Inc. states:

"Apple intentionally, willfully, and knowingly violated consumers' privacy rights, including within the sanctity of consumers' own homes where they have the greatest expectation of privacy...Plaintiffs and Class Members would not have bought their Siri Devices or would have paid less for them, if they had known Apple was intercepting, recording, disclosing, and otherwise misusing their conversations without consent or authorization."

Apple agreed to the settlement on Dec. 31, 2024, but "denies all of the allegations made in the lawsuit and denies that [they] did anything improper or unlawful."

Who is Eligible to File a Claim in the Class Action Lawsuit?

Anyone in the U.S. who owned or purchased an Apple device between September 17, 2024, and December 31, 2024, and enabled Siri during that time period is eligible to file a claim before July 2, 2025.

You would receive a notice in the mail or by email with a Claimant ID Code and Confirmation Code. You would take this information from your notice and go to this page online to submit your information.

Below is a screenshot of the Submit Claim page.

Lopez v. Apple Inc. Submit Claim page

Additional Details from Lopez v. Apple Inc. Class Action Lawsuit

The official website of the class action lawsuit states:

• A settlement has been reached with Apple Inc. (“Apple”) in a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of current or former owners or purchasers of a Siri-enabled iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, MacBook, iMac, HomePod, iPod touch, or Apple TV (“Siri Device/Devices”) whose confidential or private communications were allegedly obtained by Apple and/or shared with third parties as a result of an unintended Siri activation.  Apple denies all of the allegations made in the lawsuit and denies that Apple did anything improper or unlawful.
• The Settlement provides for a $95 million fund for payments to Settlement Class Members who are individual current or former owners or purchasers of a Siri Device, who reside in the United States or its territories, and whose confidential communications were obtained by Apple and/or were shared with third parties as a result of an unintended Siri activation.  The Settlement Class excludes Apple; any entity in which Apple has a controlling interest; Apple’s directors, officers, and employees; Apple’s legal representatives, successors, and assigns.  Also excluded from the Settlement Class are all judicial officers assigned to this case as well as their staff and immediate families.  The Class Period is September 17, 2014 to December 31, 2024. 
• If you believe you are a Settlement Class Member, you must submit a valid Claim Form to get a payment from the Settlement. Settlement Class Members may submit claims for up to five Siri Devices on which they claim to have experienced an unintended Siri activation during a conversation intended to be confidential or private.  Settlement Class Members who submit valid claims shall receive a pro rata portion of the Net Settlement Amount for a Class Payment of up to a cap of $20 per Siri Device. The amount available to Settlement Class Members will increase or decrease pro rata depending on the total number of valid claims submitted, and Siri Devices claimed.   Depending on the total number of valid claims, this Plan of Allocation is subject to modification by agreement of the Parties without further notice to Settlement Class Members, provided any such modification is approved by the Court. The final amount will not be known until all claims are evaluated.  Please see the information in the Notice concerning payments.
• If you received an email or postcard with a Claim Identification Code and a Confirmation Code notifying you about the Settlement, use these codes when making a claim.   If you did not receive an email or postcard about the Settlement and don’t have these codes but believe you are a member of the Settlement Class, you may still make a claim by going to the Submit a Claim page to make a claim and following the instruction on how to submit a Claim Form.
• You can also opt out of or object to the Settlement.

The New Format for Judge Judy Reality Court TV Show

Judge Judy Reality Court TV Show

Judge Judy is one of my favorite reality TV shows, and I like the fact that it is not scripted. I watch it regularly, and about the beginning of June 2014 or shortly after, I noticed that there is a new format to the court show. There are now three cases shown instead of two.

Old Format to the Judge Judy Reality Court TV Show

The old format was they showed two courtroom cases edited down to within a 30 minute slot, which is about 8 minutes worth of commercials. So two cases to fit within 22 minutes is 11 minutes given to each case.

After each individual case, they would allow the Plaintiff and Defendant to make comments on the ruling of the case.

The New Format to Judge Judy Reality Court TV Show

The new format that started in June 2014 on Judge Judy is to fit three cases within the 22 minutes of show. The new format does not show what the Plaintiff and Defendant says after case #1 and case #2, which they previously showed. They do show what the Plaintiff and Defendant say after the 3rd case.

I have also noticed that it seems that Judge Judy seems to be telling the Plaintiff and Defendant to "work it out" among themselves more, and giving them the option to work it out on their own. I think that it's probably really good advice too, since taking someone to small claims court can end a friendship or relationship with a family member.

Is the New Format Better?

I am not ready to make a judgment on whether the new format to Judge Judy reality court TV show is better or worse. The main issue is whether the content is still there. People in general want to watch interesting people, and interesting cases.

The typical case on Judge Judy is over failure to pay rent, or damages to a rental home. If there is an interesting person on, you want to see more air time with this interesting person on the show. So in that sense, squeezing 3 cases into 22 minutes could affect the content due to editing the cases down.

Overall, I still enjoy watching Judge Judy reality court TV show, despite the new format that has taken place. Judge Judy reality court TV show gets Z.Love's "Stamp of Approval."