
How to stop Apple from listening to your Siri recordings - october_sky
https://9to5mac.com/2019/07/29/stop-apple-listening-siri-recordings/
======
bluesign
Good luck removing

2019-05-03 Removed allowSiriServerLogging from the Restrictions Payload.

[0]
[https://developer.apple.com/business/documentation/Configura...](https://developer.apple.com/business/documentation/Configuration-
Profile-Reference.pdf)

~~~
givinguflac
I created my own profile for this and have removed and re-added it just to
test. Not sure what you think it's preventing.

~~~
bluesign
Oh I meant good luck removing server side tracking, allowSiriServerLogging key
is not valid anymore, so has no effect as far as I can see.

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strooper
Stopping Apple from listening to Siri, stopping Google from listening to
Google Assistant, stopping Amazon from listening to Alexa, stopping Google
from collecting data from android devices - these sort of articles and
arguments seem flawed right at the title.

Those companies have created those devices to listen to you, and your
surrounding, to understand you better and serve you the right product or
service or their ads. You can not have both smooth service and complete
privacy if the data is restricted, as the system will not get to learn you.

~~~
pwinnski
Game theory suggests that I want to turn off _my_ recordings and hope that
most of you do not. That way I benefit from the improvements that result from
you giving up your privacy, while retaining my own.

~~~
collyw
A lot of these improvements are based on personalization. A common problem for
me would be searching for Django related stuff - Duck Duck Go would return a
lot of things based on the film, while Google knew that I was interested in
the web framework.

~~~
whytaka
But the difference is covered literally by just adding 'python' to your query.

~~~
godshatter
The art of crafting query strings seems to have fallen by the wayside. Almost
any query I do involves giving topics or categories first, followed by more
qualifiers to nail it down more, usually followed by double-quoting the terms
that the search engine seemingly ignores in the query string.

All the code to find like terms and phrases and whatnot is great and not
privacy threatening, but I wish the search giants would stop trying to guess
my motivations and just present me with the most relevant results based on
what I asked for, and not what it thinks I was probably asking for.

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cj
Funny to see an article promoting the use of Apple Device Profiles on the
front page.

There was just an article last week on the front page describing how
installing device profiles is unacceptable:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20514833](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20514833)

~~~
oarsinsync
Device profiles are the superset. It allows a wide range of features and
functions.

Mobile device management uses a subset of what device profiles allow for,
along with additional external tooling.

They're similar, but the thread you linked to is about MDM, not device
profiles in general.

Deploying a device profile is akin to accepting a self signed certificate.
When it's of your own generation, it's probably fine, if someone else has done
it, you should question what's happening and whether or not it's right for you
to accept it or not.

------
bobwaycott
_INSTRUCTIONS—For those who wish to do this on their own without downloading
and installing a third-party 's profile to their device(s) (and have a Mac):_

1\. Download Apple Configurator 2 from the Mac App Store.

2\. Open the app, plug in your iOS device, and click on it to activate working
on it.

3\. Command+N to create a new Profile.

4\. Under General, fill out the mandatory info (only name is required).

5\. Click Restrictions, then click Configure. Un-check the 10th top-level
checkbox that says "Allow server-side logging of Siri commands". Take a look
at other things you'd like to control.

6\. Command+S to save the profile. Close the window.

7\. Click on Profiles in left sidebar. Click Add Profiles. Select the profile
you just saved. Ensure your device is unlocked, and it will be added to your
device.

8\. Go into Settings app on your device. There will be an entry at the top
that says "Profile Downloaded". Tap into that and select to install the
profile.

------
hprotagonist
"curl some rando's plist" still gives me the willies, honestly. And i know
it's just XML!

~~~
ihuman
If you go to the github [0] linked in the article, it tells you how to create
your own using Apple's Configurator application [1]. In the "restrictions"
section, uncheck "Allow server-side logging of Siri commands". You can also
preview the raw XML of the config profile on github without downloading the
file [2].

[0] [https://github.com/jankais3r/Siri-
NoLoggingPLS](https://github.com/jankais3r/Siri-NoLoggingPLS)

[1] [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jankais3r/Siri-
NoLoggingPL...](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jankais3r/Siri-
NoLoggingPLS/master/configurator.png)

[2] [https://github.com/jankais3r/Siri-
NoLoggingPLS/blob/master/P...](https://github.com/jankais3r/Siri-
NoLoggingPLS/blob/master/Prevent%20server-
side%20logging%20of%20Siri%20commands.mobileconfig)

------
tga
How about a better question -- if you turn off everything Siri in the
settings, are there circumstances in which an iPhone will _still_ send audio
to their servers?

This to me would be the only _reasonable_ way of stopping Apple from listening
in, while still using an iPhone.

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elagost
So does anyone know if this actually works?

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taqcp
How could we ever check?

~~~
MichaelApproved
Network traffic logs.

~~~
taqcp
Your voice is always sent to Apple to process it since Siri doesn't work
locally; what we are wondering is whether that voice recording is permanently
stored or destroyed as soon as it's processed.

~~~
louiz
So… This is just a “please, don’t record what I send you”? How could anyone
believe apple will obey this demand?

~~~
dymk
How can anybody trust anyone to do anything?

They have a good track record of respecting user privacy.

~~~
iamnotacrook
But.... Let's try again... How do we know that?

~~~
dymk
You don't know it for a fact. You trust them to not do it.

Yes, _let 's try again_, how do you know you can trust _anybody_ to do
_anything_?

Do you hold a gun to their head? Do you trust the courts to uphold written
agreements/contracts that dictate the other party's behavior? Do you observe
their past behavior and use that to guess future behavior?

In 99% of our daily actions, we use the last option, and right now is no
exception.

------
ropiwqefjnpoa
Not Apple, but I'm pretty happy with the Amazon firestick. It only listens
when you press the button on the remote. Seems acceptable if that's all Amazon
is logging.

~~~
dangoor
As I understand it, Apple devices don't start sending audio data to Apple
until you say "Hey Siri" (which is interpreted on the device). It may not be
as explicit as pushing a button, but it seems close.

~~~
GRiMe2D
And most important, you can disable "Hey Siri" trigger on your iPhone/Mac or
Apple Watch. If you disabled "Hey Siri" trigger (and left "Siri" on) then you
have to long press "Home" button (or button on the right, if you are on iPhone
X and later) to start "Siri"

~~~
ropiwqefjnpoa
I know, but that prevents CarPlay from working, which I really like...

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pintxo
This sounds too easy: do not use Siri in the first place?

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jerkstate
Does this just disable logging for the device you install it on, or the whole
Apple account? What about Siri on Mac, HomePods, etc?

~~~
bobwaycott
Profiles are only activated on the devices you install it on, iirc.

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jraph
"Hey Siri, can you stop Apple from listening to my Siri recordings?"

"Hey Siri!… Siri?!"

P.S. If someone out there has an Apple device, I'm interested in knowing what
the actual response to this request is.

~~~
cardiffspaceman
Siri responded with a web search that resulted in some articles about how to
accomplish what you ask about. I think it included this thread. I didn't
bother to visit the resulting pages.

~~~
jraph
Thanks!

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mcv
Another option is of course to simply not use an iOS device.

Having to download some third-party thing to disable it, really shouldn't be
necessary. There should be a simple setting in iOS to turn Siri's listening on
or off.

~~~
petard
You don't need a some third-party thing, you can create the profile yourself
using the Apple Configurator. Agree that this should be an easily accessible
system setting like OP suggests.

~~~
jaclaz
As a matter of fact it should be "default" and need an actual "opt-in" to
allow the server side logging.

~~~
viraptor
It's on by default because it has a very important function for Apple. If it
was opt-in, Siri would be a much weaker service.

~~~
jen20
The configuration to allow listening at all (to start Siri by code phrase) is
opt-in during device setup. While I would like to see a checkbox for allowing
human review of Siri messages also, at least there is a way to _opt out_ -
something most mobile devices simply do not have.

