Apple Plays Down Fears About Always-On Siri And Live Photos

During the iPhone 6S announcement Apple highlighted two features called Hey Siri and Live Photos. “Hey Siri” is the command that users can give to the virtual assistant to wake it up without having to even hold the device in their hands while Live Photos brings audio and motion to pictures taken with the device. Both features give way to some questions about privacy has led Apple to play down those concerns.

Live Photos capture motion and audio 1.5 seconds before the picture is taken and 1.5 seconds after it, the feature starts recording before you even capture the event and its continuously buffered from the moment the camera app is launched.

According to Apple the 1.5 second recording only happens when the camera is on and nothing is saved permanently until a picture is taken, pre-captured images are not saved on the device or sent off the device if a picture is not taken.

A feature like Hey Siri requires the device to be always listening otherwise it can’t pick up the command and you can see why it would make privacy-conscious people anxious. It’s an optional feature and it can be turned off rather easily, however Apple says that nothing is recorded or sent off the device before the feature is triggered.

For example if you ask Siri for the weather it’s going to have to go online and get the latest weather, anything that it picks up before you say “Hey Siri, tell me the weather” will be discarded. All of the listening and processing happens locally and if there’s no triggering of the feature it’s constantly overwritten.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Apple, Cellphones
Tags: Hey Siri, iPhone 6s