After users expressed severe concerns over Siri storing audio recordings, which Apple calls a ‘grading,’ the US-tech giant has introduced a few changes in Siri practices wherein users will now be able to delete Siri recordings.
The new feature is available with iOS 13.2 beta. Once you have updated your phone to this version, you will see a splash screen where Apple precisely explains if users wish to opt-out of sharing audio recordings.
‘Help Improve Siri and Dictation by allowing Apple to store and review audio of your Siri and Dictation interactions on this iPhone and on any connected Apple Watch or HomePod. You can change this later in the settings for each device. This data is not associated with your Apple ID, and will only be stored for a limited period,’ the message reads.
On the other hand, if you want to remove the Siri recordings entirely, you can do so by heading over to the Privacy section under the Settings tab, wherein under ‘Improve Siri & Dictation’ the company now offers a setting which will let you delete recordings entirely.
According to Apple, the voice assistant uses as little data as possible. And when you ask a question about a sporting event, for example, Siri uses your general location to provide suitable results. But if you ask for the nearest grocery store, more specific location data is used. And, if you ask Siri to read your unread messages, Siri simply instructs your device to read aloud your unread messages. The contents of your messages aren’t transmitted to Siri’s servers, because that isn’t necessary to fulfill your request.
The voice assistant also relies on data from your interactions with it, which includes the audio of your request and a computer-generated transcription of it. Further, in order to ‘train’ Siri to improve, Apple often uses the audio recording of a request, as well as the transcript, in a machine learning process.