When Apple announces "privacy by default," it sounds like an advantage. But context changes the picture: the company just paid $95 million in a lawsuit claiming that Siri had been recording private conversations for years without users' knowledge and sharing data with third parties. Auto-deletion of chats is not just a feature. It's also a public response to the trust that the company itself undermined.
Three options — and none of them is "turn off recording"
According to Bloomberg data cited by journalist Mark Gurman, the new Siri app will offer three settings for storing conversation history: 30 days, 1 year, or forever. The mechanics are copied from the Messages app — such an option has existed there for several years. Separately, users will be able to choose whether Siri launches with the context of a previous conversation.
Apple's principled position, according to Gurman: privacy protection should be built into the system rather than be a separate "incognito mode" that users need to consciously enable. This is a direct jab at ChatGPT, where the Temporary Chat function exists — but as an option, not a standard.
"If the approach works, Apple will have a new argument in the privacy field — and a convenient excuse if the software performs worse than competitors"
Mark Gurman, Bloomberg
Siri leaves beta with a label
At WWDC 2026, which will take place in June, Apple plans to introduce Siri as a separate app with a conversational interface similar to ChatGPT. But according to Bloomberg, the product will launch with a beta label — the same way Apple Intelligence launched in 2024. This is not a technical detail: the beta label releases Apple from its obligations to users while the functionality is still "catching up" with competitors.
Apple first promised a "smart" Siri at WWDC 2024. Most of those promises remain unfulfilled. Now the company is preparing to repeat the announcement — with support for Google Gemini models and an open integration layer for other AI providers.
Why this matters beyond Apple
- Chat logs from assistants have already been used in criminal cases and civil lawsuits in the US — auto-deletion directly reduces this risk for users.
- Apple is setting a standard: if a major player makes deletion default, pressure on OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft increases.
- At the same time, none of the modes means data doesn't reach Apple servers until the moment of deletion — and the company hasn't publicly explained this.
If Apple truly launches Siri with real deletion at the server level — not just with an interface that doesn't allow access to logs — it will change the industry standard. But so far, no technical description has been published about where and how data is stored between the conversation and deletion: will WWDC 2026 be the moment when Apple publicly explains this, or will it again leave the question open?
