How to delete all of the Siri recordings that Apple may have of you on Mac or iOS

Posted:
in iPad edited December 2019
There is a way to delete the anonymized Siri recordings that Apple may have on file for you, but there are some consequences for doing so.




Editor's note: We have had many requests to walk through this in a video, so on August 7, we have done so. While the procedure may not be required much longer as Apple is working on a series of procedures to choose if you want to send recordings to Apple, it isn't yet clear on when this will happen.

We've spoken with Apple, and confirmed that you can delete what Apple may have on file for you in regards to Siri recordings. However, we were also told that since the numbers of retained recordings for quality assurance purposes are so low, the odds are that you don't have any retained data.

Here's how to do it, and yes, it requires you to turn Siri and Dictation off.



On the Mac

  • In the Apple menu, select System Preferences

  • Click Siri

  • Disable Enable Ask Siri

  • Back in System Preferences, click Keyboard>

  • Click the
  • Dictation tab on the upper right

  • Turn Dictation off

On iOS

  • Tap the Settings icon

  • Tap Siri & Search

  • Turn off Listen for "Hey Siri"

  • Turn off Press Side Button for Siri

  • After Apple's warning that you've just turned off Siri, tap Settings

  • Tap General

  • Tap Keyboard

  • Turn Enable Dictation off.
No actions are required on an Apple Watch or a HomePod.

There are two catches, though. The first is, you're going to have to do this on every Mac or iOS device you own as the recordings are not tied to an iCloud account. The second is that once you turn dictation or Siri on again, the potential retention starts anew on that device -- albeit with a new anonymized identifier.

But, for now, Apple has turned off manual grading collection. There are changes coming, so if you toggle Siri and Dictation on and off now, it may be the only time you have to do it.

The nuclear options

Devices set up as new can opt-out of data collection. Sources inside Apple not authorized to speak on behalf of the company say that doing so will prevent this data from being collected -- and has always done so.

Additionally, there are reports of a custom device profile that users can install to prevent these recordings. At present, we can't recommend taking that step until the safety of the profile is guaranteed -- and Apple says you shouldn't install untrusted profiles.

In enterprise installations, device management profiles to prevent the recordings can be set up, using tools like Jamf's suite, but that is far beyond the scope of this article.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 35
    jdwjdw Posts: 1,324member
    Quality assurance" -- ha!  Siri is a brain-dead bozo who after years of "training" still cannot pronounce my daughter's name correctly.  Siri doesn't understand the context of human language and can hardly do anything truly useful at all.  MobileMe prompted Steve Jobs to tell his employees, "You've tarnished Apple's reputation...", so imagine what word's he would say today about Siri!

    Suffice it to say, the "nuclear option" should be to eliminate Siri entirely.  She's next to worthless.  And it saddens me to say it.  Siri could be so much better if Apple gave it their heart and soul.  But they aren't.  It seems like they don't even care.  Shocking.  Just shocking.
    spice-boyatomic101
  • Reply 2 of 35
    P-DogNCP-DogNC Posts: 37member
    jdw said:
    Quality assurance" -- ha!  Siri is a brain-dead bozo who after years of "training" still cannot pronounce my daughter's name correctly.  
    You know that you can easily train Siri to pronounce your daughter‘s name correctly, don‘t you? Siri couldn‘t pronounce my daughter‘s name correctly either, until I used its built-in capability to do so.
    edited August 2019 mwhitejahbladeSoundJudgmentspace2001mike1StrangeDayspscooter63coolfactor
  • Reply 3 of 35
    gutengelgutengel Posts: 363member
    So to delete your recording you have to completely deactivate Siri? Nowhere in the article is stated that by deactivating SIri the recordings will be deleted, its confusing. Also, if you never opted in on data collection, does that mean that Apple never saved any recordings?
  • Reply 4 of 35
    mwhitemwhite Posts: 287member
    jdw said:
    Quality assurance" -- ha!  Siri is a brain-dead bozo who after years of "training" still cannot pronounce my daughter's name correctly.  Siri doesn't understand the context of human language and can hardly do anything truly useful at all.  MobileMe prompted Steve Jobs to tell his employees, "You've tarnished Apple's reputation...", so imagine what word's he would say today about Siri!

    Suffice it to say, the "nuclear option" should be to eliminate Siri entirely.  She's next to worthless.  And it saddens me to say it.  Siri could be so much better if Apple gave it their heart and soul.  But they aren't.  It seems like they don't even care.  Shocking.  Just shocking.
    Eliminate Siri haha if you don't like it turn it off and don't use it but I like using it and would rather people like you turn it off.....
    jahblademike1samrodStrangeDays
  • Reply 5 of 35
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,858administrator
    gutengel said:
    So to delete your recording you have to completely deactivate Siri? Nowhere in the article is stated that by deactivating SIri the recordings will be deleted, its confusing. Also, if you never opted in on data collection, does that mean that Apple never saved any recordings?
    Your second point is addressed in the article. 

    FTA: "Devices set up as new can opt-out of data collection. Sources inside Apple not authorized to speak on behalf of the company say that doing so will prevent this data from being collected -- and has always done so."
    SoundJudgmentmwhiteRayz2016StrangeDayspscooter63
  • Reply 6 of 35
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,858administrator

    P-DogNC said:
    jdw said:
    Quality assurance" -- ha!  Siri is a brain-dead bozo who after years of "training" still cannot pronounce my daughter's name correctly.  
    You know that you can easily train Siri to pronounce your daughter‘s name correctly, don‘t you? Siri couldn‘t pronounce my daughter‘s name correctly either, until I used its built-in capability to do so.
    https://appleinsider.com/articles/17/10/19/how-to-teach-siri-to-pronounce-names-correctly-on-your-iphone
    SoundJudgmentmwhiteStrangeDays
  • Reply 7 of 35
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    gutengel said:
    So to delete your recording you have to completely deactivate Siri? Nowhere in the article is stated that by deactivating SIri the recordings will be deleted, its confusing. Also, if you never opted in on data collection, does that mean that Apple never saved any recordings?
    I think you agreed when you allowed Apple to collect diagnostics/analytics during the setup procedure. There is no specific opt-in for Siri diagnostics, and certainly not 3rd party human listeners, tho there probably should be for legal reasons. Someone will quickly correct me if I'm mistaken.
    edited August 2019
  • Reply 8 of 35
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member
    jdw said:
    Quality assurance" -- ha!  Siri is a brain-dead bozo who after years of "training" still cannot pronounce my daughter's name correctly.  Siri doesn't understand the context of human language and can hardly do anything truly useful at all.  MobileMe prompted Steve Jobs to tell his employees, "You've tarnished Apple's reputation...", so imagine what word's he would say today about Siri!

    Suffice it to say, the "nuclear option" should be to eliminate Siri entirely.  She's next to worthless.  And it saddens me to say it.  Siri could be so much better if Apple gave it their heart and soul.  But they aren't.  It seems like they don't even care.  Shocking.  Just shocking.
    AI, please bring back the thumbs down choice!
    mwhitemacguiStrangeDayspscooter63
  • Reply 9 of 35
    jdwjdw Posts: 1,324member
    Why do you gentlemen ASSUME I am so inept to have written what I did WITHOUT having properly trained Siri to pronounce my daughter's name correctly?  I did train Siri correctly, and during the training Siri pronounced the name correctly, but then later Siri went back to the old, incorrect pronunciation.  In other words, Siri is as brain-dead as I wrote in my opening post in that Siri FORGOT the training completely.  And that, my friends, is only a part of why I detest the ineptness of Siri.  There is so little that Siri is good at, it makes me sick.  It's not like Siri came out yesterday either.  Apple has had Siri in their hands for YEARS.  YEARS.  Why then defend Siri as if it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.  It isn't.  And like I said, I say this as an Apple fan with a heavy heart.  Siri is far worse that MobileMe ever was.  Again, imagine the tongue-trashing Apple engineers would get over Siri if Mr. Jobs was still alive.  Had those engineers gotten that much needed kick in the fanny from Cook, Siri would likely be closing in on the Starship enterprise computer's intelligence.  Siriously!

    Don't praise the status quo.  Setting our sights higher than what we have now is the heart of innovation.  Strive to be better than your best, and you might surprise yourself at how well you can achieve that goal.
    edited August 2019
  • Reply 10 of 35
    uraharaurahara Posts: 733member
    I tried Siri several times. I found useful comands: - set up an alarm for x a.m. - what is the weather tomorrow For most of the things I wanted her to tell me (e.g. 'what is the top movies running in the theaters right now') she provided me an answer quite useless. E.g. she gives me a list. And I need to look at the screen and tap one of the movies to read about it. - Useless. I want her to tell me about them, not for me to read (while driving). What do you use Siri for? What commands do you give her?
    elijahg
  • Reply 11 of 35
    dougddougd Posts: 292member
    I always turn Siri OFF.  
  • Reply 12 of 35
    macplusplusmacplusplus Posts: 2,112member
    jdw said:
    Quality assurance" -- ha!  Siri is a brain-dead bozo who after years of "training" still cannot pronounce my daughter's name correctly.  Siri doesn't understand the context of human language and can hardly do anything truly useful at all.  MobileMe prompted Steve Jobs to tell his employees, "You've tarnished Apple's reputation...", so imagine what word's he would say today about Siri!

    Suffice it to say, the "nuclear option" should be to eliminate Siri entirely.  She's next to worthless.  And it saddens me to say it.  Siri could be so much better if Apple gave it their heart and soul.  But they aren't.  It seems like they don't even care.  Shocking.  Just shocking.
    You’re mixing up “intelligence” and “understanding”. It has been proven in the ‘50s with Turing Test that a machine can exhibit completely intelligent behavior without understanding any part of its behavior. Anything that is algorithmic can be implemented as machine intelligence. Human intelligence is both algorithmic (trainable, experimental) and innate. Understanding is totally different from intelligence, mostly because it is not algorithmic, this is why there is “artificial intelligence” but not “artificial understanding”.

    To cut it short, Siri is a product, not research. As a product it has a finite scope but well defined specs. As a product it has been adapted to 21 languages. Those companies who sell their “research” as AI can’t even cope with the peculiarities of the English language and they are stuck within the confines of a couple of languages. As a product Siri is universal, the others are local and anecdotal. So, keep your expectations low, take Siri not even as a form of intelligence but a human-machine voice interaction layer in somewhat humanized form, and you may have a fairly symbiotic life with Siri. Train yourself first, then Siri.
    edited August 2019 StrangeDayspscooter63
  • Reply 13 of 35
    netlingnetling Posts: 74member
    Per Apple Desktop Dictation; "If you use Enhanced Dictation, your Mac will convert what you say into text WITHOUT sending your dictated speech to Apple." 

    I can NOT verify that this is the case with the updated versions of the OS.  I'm running an older OS for various reasons, ie. I have ZERO appeal for Siri on desktop, (Hey, Tim Cook, give me innovation and not a regurgitation of iOS crapware.) The ONLY reason to upgrade to Catalina is that it's the last OS before being locked out of using older programs.



  • Reply 14 of 35
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member

    P-DogNC said:
    jdw said:
    Quality assurance" -- ha!  Siri is a brain-dead bozo who after years of "training" still cannot pronounce my daughter's name correctly.  
    You know that you can easily train Siri to pronounce your daughter‘s name correctly, don‘t you? Siri couldn‘t pronounce my daughter‘s name correctly either, until I used its built-in capability to do so.
    https://appleinsider.com/articles/17/10/19/how-to-teach-siri-to-pronounce-names-correctly-on-your-iphone
    If Siri can’t even pronounce the name Mike, Apple has bigger problems than AVG/GDPR 
  • Reply 15 of 35
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,858administrator

    P-DogNC said:
    jdw said:
    Quality assurance" -- ha!  Siri is a brain-dead bozo who after years of "training" still cannot pronounce my daughter's name correctly.  
    You know that you can easily train Siri to pronounce your daughter‘s name correctly, don‘t you? Siri couldn‘t pronounce my daughter‘s name correctly either, until I used its built-in capability to do so.
    https://appleinsider.com/articles/17/10/19/how-to-teach-siri-to-pronounce-names-correctly-on-your-iphone
    If Siri can’t even pronounce the name Mike, Apple has bigger problems than AVG/GDPR 
    Mike wasn't the problem, that was the name it got. Wuerthele on the other hand, was more problematic.
    StrangeDaysStrangeDaysStrangeDaysCarnageGG1
  • Reply 16 of 35
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member

    P-DogNC said:
    jdw said:
    Quality assurance" -- ha!  Siri is a brain-dead bozo who after years of "training" still cannot pronounce my daughter's name correctly.  
    You know that you can easily train Siri to pronounce your daughter‘s name correctly, don‘t you? Siri couldn‘t pronounce my daughter‘s name correctly either, until I used its built-in capability to do so.
    https://appleinsider.com/articles/17/10/19/how-to-teach-siri-to-pronounce-names-correctly-on-your-iphone
    If Siri can’t even pronounce the name Mike, Apple has bigger problems than AVG/GDPR 
    Mike wasn't the problem, that was the name it got. Wuerthele on the other hand, was more problematic.
    Sorry, yes, I got that. But the way it was written in the article, was, well, I found it to be funny
  • Reply 17 of 35
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member
    jdw said:
    Quality assurance" -- ha!  Siri is a brain-dead bozo who after years of "training" still cannot pronounce my daughter's name correctly.  Siri doesn't understand the context of human language and can hardly do anything truly useful at all.  MobileMe prompted Steve Jobs to tell his employees, "You've tarnished Apple's reputation...", so imagine what word's he would say today about Siri!

    Suffice it to say, the "nuclear option" should be to eliminate Siri entirely.  She's next to worthless.  And it saddens me to say it.  Siri could be so much better if Apple gave it their heart and soul.  But they aren't.  It seems like they don't even care.  Shocking.  Just shocking.
    Gee, what am I doing wrong? Mine works. Texts, reminders, timers, HomeKit, and some general data inquiries. 

    If you're expecting any of these digital assistants to operate in a human manner with full contextual awareness, you'll find them all very disappointing. 
  • Reply 18 of 35
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member

    jdw said:
    Quality assurance" -- ha!  Siri is a brain-dead bozo who after years of "training" still cannot pronounce my daughter's name correctly.  Siri doesn't understand the context of human language and can hardly do anything truly useful at all.  MobileMe prompted Steve Jobs to tell his employees, "You've tarnished Apple's reputation...", so imagine what word's he would say today about Siri!

    Suffice it to say, the "nuclear option" should be to eliminate Siri entirely.  She's next to worthless.  And it saddens me to say it.  Siri could be so much better if Apple gave it their heart and soul.  But they aren't.  It seems like they don't even care.  Shocking.  Just shocking.
    You’re mixing up “intelligence” and “understanding”. It has been proven in the ‘50s with Turing Test that a machine can exhibit completely intelligent behavior without understanding any part of its behavior. Anything that is algorithmic can be implemented as machine intelligence. Human intelligence is both algorithmic (trainable, experimental) and innate. Understanding is totally different from intelligence, mostly because it is not algorithmic, this is why there is “artificial intelligence” but not “artificial understanding”.

    To cut it short, Siri is a product, not research. As a product it has a finite scope but well defined specs. As a product it has been adapted to 21 languages. Those companies who sell their “research” as AI can’t even cope with the peculiarities of the English language and they are stuck within the confines of a couple of languages. As a product Siri is universal, the others are local and anecdotal. So, keep your expectations low, take Siri not even as a form of intelligence but a human-machine voice interaction layer in somewhat humanized form, and you may have a fairly symbiotic life with Siri. Train yourself first, then Siri.
    Nailed it, dude. Maybe this will change one day in the future, but we're not going to be on the Starship Enterprise anytime soon.
    edited August 2019
  • Reply 19 of 35
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    If Apple wants to record information, so they can figure out why my homepot all of sudden thinks it heard hey Siri then attempt to listen to the conversation in the rooms and provide stupid answers I'm all for it. 

    It seems like anytime we have number of people having discussions and we are all near the homepod Siri for some reason thinks it hears hey Siri. I can tell you no one said anything close to hey Siri. Sometime a tv show will trigger it, Apple needs to figure out why this happens.
  • Reply 20 of 35
    jdwjdw Posts: 1,324member
    Train yourself first, then Siri.
    All those preceding paragraphs and then your ultimate point -- a mere cut-low.  Whether an intentional cut-low or premeditated, you are parroting, "Your holding it wrong."  And all the while none of what your wrote seeks to make Siri any better.  I also find it fascinating that whenever I comment on TECH and inanimate objects in this forum, Status Quo Worshippers cast their cut-lows at me, a fellow Apple fan.  Therein lies the fundamental difference between us.  While I have no issues chastising TECH, many of you folks for some reason have zero issues chastising me.  Which is worse?  (Hint: attacks on fellow human beings is worse than attacks on tech being rather inept.)


    atomic101
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