Apple says the iPhone doesn't listen to your conversations

Last month, members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee fired off a letter to Apple following reports that phones and other devices, such as smart speakers, can listen in on conversations. Now, the tech giant has sent the Representatives its response: iPhones, it says, don't listen to people's conversations and don't share people's spoken words with third-parties. In what could be interpreted as a dig at its staunchest competitors, Cupertino explains in the letter (courtesy of CNET) that the customer is not its product and that its business model "does not depend on collecting vast amounts of personally identifiable information to enrich targeted profiles marketed to advertisers." In the original letter the lawmakers sent, they specifically noted reports that third-party apps could access the data devices supposedly collect while listening for their "trigger words," such as "Hey, Siri, "OK Google" and "Hey, Alexa." During Facebook's congressional hearing back in April, Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) even asked Mark Zuckerberg whether the social network listens in on people through their phone mics in order to serve relevant ads.