iOS 15.4 Beta 2 Fixes Bug That Caused Some iPhones to Record Siri Interactions Even When Users Opted Out

The second beta of iOS 15.4 addresses an iOS 15 bug that was allowing the iPhone to upload some Siri recordings to Apple even when users had previously opted out of doing so, Apple said in a statement to ZDNet.

improve siri dictation
Recordings were mistakenly kept for some users who disabled the option to share their ‌Siri‌ voice interactions or dictation with Apple for the purpose of improving the voice assistant. Apple told ZDNet that it turned off the setting for "many" ‌Siri‌ users in iOS 15.2, but iOS 15.4 apparently fixes the issue.

With iOS 15.2, we turned off the Improve Siri & Dictation setting for many Siri users while we fixed a bug introduced with iOS 15. This bug inadvertently enabled the setting for a small portion of devices. Since identifying the bug, we stopped reviewing and are deleting audio received from all affected devices.

Apple said that when the bug was initially identified, it stopped reviewing the audio from affected devices and deleted the accidental recordings, but there is no word on why the company did not inform users of this issue when it was first discovered or when the setting was disabled in iOS 15.2.

There is no word on how many recordings Apple accidentally collected nor who was affected.

When updating to iOS 15.4 beta 2, there is a setup screen that asks users to choose whether to Improve ‌Siri‌ & Dictation by sending Apple recordings. Opting out is meant to prevent Apple from collecting and reviewing recordings of ‌Siri‌ interactions.

Apple first introduced the toggle to disable ‌Siri‌ recordings in October 2019 with the launch of iOS 13.2. It was added after it was discovered that Apple hired contractors to listen to a small percentage of anonymized ‌Siri‌ recordings to evaluate ‌Siri‌'s responses with the purpose of improving reliability.

Some of those contractors complained that they regularly heard confidential details while listening to the audio recordings. In response, Apple temporarily suspended its ‌Siri‌ grading practices and added the opt-out feature and an option to delete all previously collected ‌Siri‌ recordings.

Related Forum: iOS 15

Popular Stories

CarPlay Hero

Apple Releases Wireless CarPlay Fix

Wednesday April 16, 2025 11:28 am PDT by
If you have been experiencing issues with wireless CarPlay in your vehicle lately, it was likely due to a software bug that has now been fixed. Apple released iOS 18.4.1 today, and the update's release notes say it "addresses a rare issue that prevents wireless CarPlay connection in certain vehicles." If wireless CarPlay was acting up for you, updating your iPhone to iOS 18.4.1 should...
Beyond iPhone 13 Better Triad

Apple's 20th Anniversary iPhone May Finally Go All Screen

Tuesday April 15, 2025 6:31 am PDT by
Apple is preparing a "bold" new iPhone Pro model for the iPhone's 20th anniversary in 2027, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. As part of what's being described as a "major shake-up," Apple is said to be developing a design that makes more extensive use of glass – and this could point directly to the display itself. Here's the case for Apple releasing a truly all-screen iPhone with no...
iOS 19 Roundup Feature

iOS 19 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Tuesday April 15, 2025 7:37 am PDT by
The first iOS 19 beta is less than two months away, and there are already a handful of new features that are expected with the update. Apple should release the first iOS 19 beta to developers immediately following the WWDC 2025 keynote, which is scheduled for Monday, June 9. Following beta testing, the update should be released to the general public in September. Below, we recap the key...
maxresdefault

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Sunday April 13, 2025 7:52 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and ...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday April 17, 2025 4:12 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Friday April 18, 2025 5:16 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
iOS 18

Apple Releases iOS 18.4.1 With Bug Fixes

Wednesday April 16, 2025 10:11 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 18.4.1 and iPadOS 18.4.1, minor updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating systems that came out last September. iOS 18.4.1 and iPadOS 18.4.1 come two weeks after the launch of iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. There have been complaints about ...
tvOS 18 Thumb 1

Apple Releases tvOS 18.4.1

Wednesday April 16, 2025 10:04 am PDT by
Apple today released tvOS 18.4.1, a minor update to the tvOS 18 operating system that came out last September. tvOS 18.4.1 comes two weeks after Apple released tvOS 18.4, and it is available for the Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD models. tvOS 18.4.1 can be downloaded using the Settings app on the ‌Apple TV‌. Open up Settings and go to System > Software Update to get the new software....
iPhone Security Feature 25

Five iPhone Security Features You Should Be Using

Wednesday April 16, 2025 4:15 pm PDT by
Apple has quite a few security features that it's added to iPhones, iPads, and Macs over the years. Now more than ever, it's important to make sure you're taking advantage of the built-in security tools that are available to keep yourself and your data safe, so we've rounded up a list of the most important options. If you don't already have these enabled, you might want to consider turning...

Top Rated Comments

canadianreader Avatar
42 months ago

Waiting for the obligatory 500 comments connecting this to surveillance and CSAM ?
You'd never know how many other unfixed bugs that are floating around. Think camera and mic bugs or screen recording bugs etc.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
42 months ago
For the time being, I'm not trusting Siri. It has lost my trust.

Siri is on time-out. :confused:
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jamison7 Avatar
42 months ago
Siri, tell the CCP I said I'm sorry.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pdaholic Avatar
42 months ago
Don’t worry everybody…even if Siri was recording us, there’s about a 90% chance she has no idea what we were saying.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
coolfactor Avatar
42 months ago

No, but such heavy bugs should be fined with 10% of the worldwide yearly revenue, and they would start to pay more attention before releasing crap that insults users privacy. Yes, these kind of bugs shows up too often with Apple, very shady.

At least they ditched the “What’s on your iPhone, stay’s on your iPhone!“ campaign.
Well written! By someone that has NO idea how complex software is. ? Even when something is working perfectly in one scenario, it can misbehave unexpectedly in another scenario. Testing every possible scenario is humanly impossible. This is why bugs are quite often discovered in the real world (aka. after the public release).

I'm a software engineer and see this all the time. End users manage to reveal bugs that were completely unimaginable during development and internal testing. What really matters is how Apple responds to incidents. Transparency is key.

What is ironic about this is that so many people complain about Siri not understanding their commands, and yet how many of them disable Apple's ability to review and improve that process by opting out? ?
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Wildkraut Avatar
42 months ago

Waiting for the obligatory 500 comments connecting this to surveillance and CSAM ?
No, but such heavy bugs should be fined with 10% of the worldwide yearly revenue, and they would start to pay more attention before releasing crap that insults users privacy. Yes, these kind of bugs shows up too often with Apple, very shady.

At least they ditched the “What’s on your iPhone, stay’s on your iPhone!“ campaign.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)