Key Takeaways:

• U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White granted final approval on October 16, 2025, of Plaintiffs’ $95 million settlement with Apple in Lopez et al v. Apple Inc., No.4:19-cv-04577-JSW (N.D. Cal).
• The case alleged Apple listened to Siri users’ private conversations without users’ knowledge or consent, or consent by turning on when they did not say “Hey Siri”
• Lowey Partner Christian Levis led the firm’s efforts in this cutting-edge privacy case as court-appointed co-class counsel

Overview

On October 16, 2025, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White granted final approval of Plaintiffs’ $95 million settlement with Apple in Lopez et al v. Apple Inc., No. 4:19-cv-04577-JSW (N.D. Cal). The case arose out of whistleblower reports that Apple was recording and paying contractors to listen to recordings of individuals who used its Siri voice assistant at times when they did not activate it by saying “Hey Siri.”

Plaintiffs alleged that Apple used these recordings for its own commercial purposes, including by disclosing them to third-party human reviewers, who listened to and transcribed the audio as part of a broader effort to improve Siri and Apple’s speech recognition technology more generally.

Now that final approval has been granted, class members and qualified individuals who submitted valid claims will begin to receive compensation for their claims.

We congratulate our team for their exceptional efforts on this case. Lowey’s team was led by Christian Levis, Margaret MacLean, and Andrea Farah.