Remember that time you thought it would be funny to pick up your iPhone, hit up Siri, and ask her a strain of dirty questions, just to see what she would say? You do? Well so does Apple, or so it seems.
According to a report from Wired, Apple keeps each and every single Siri interaction you — and every other iOS user — have had with the virtual helper.
But before you start freaking out about your recent series of escort requests, you should know that Apple says that it does not, in fact, store contact information associated with these requests. In other words, it knows that someone was in search of an adult escort, but doesn’t know who that someone was (it certainly wasn’t me!).
Phew!
Here’s how the data retention works. You make a request to Siri. That information is shipped over to Apple, but instead of storing it via your actual phone number, you’re given a different unique number, one that is not related to any of your Apple accounts. Your voice is then associated with that number. Future Siri requests come in, but the software is so sophisticated that it can identify your voice, and then sync you up with that same unique number. But, after six months, that Siri request is no longer associated with the number.
It likely stores all of this information to continually improve the information Siri returns. (Maybe it will actually up the joke ante, which would make Siri a whole lot more fun.) But regardless, at the end of the day, you really should be careful about what you ask Siri and how you interact. Even if this is supposedly anonymous data, remember: there are usually ways to find out who is behind the message.
