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Hundreds of smartphone apps are monitoring users through their microphones
(www.the-independent.com)
this post was submitted on 27 Apr 2025
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Can’t say about Amazon and Google because I don’t have their devices, but if you read up on how Siri’s cue word works, you’ll see how it doesn’t “listen” to you all the time. It has 2 mechanisms in play, one that’s always ready to hear you call it, and the other that actually transmits the data it collects. Those 2 are decoupled to ensure the one waiting for the trigger/cue word is isolated and only works locally and does not collect or transmit what it’s hearing. Once you trigger it, the second mechanism comes in and then it’s fair game as whatever it hears can be collected and shared.
Having your phone listen to you all the time and transmit the info will cause an obvious drain on your battery and data. If that truly was the case, mobile security professionals would’ve sounded the alarm by now.