Apple and Android warning after concerns raised over virtual assistants ‘recording everything you say’

VIRTUAL assistants such as Alexa may be listening to more than just quick commands.

Your device could be recording everything while waiting to hear you say “Hey Google”.

Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant have wowed users with their quick ability to answer trivia questions or access calendars.

Digital assistants have showcased the best of voice command technologies.

While useful, not every user wants to have a device hanging on their word.

Each device or app has a different method for unplugging the mic.

In 2019, a whistleblower told that Apple devices hear more than they should, including confidential interactions.

The revelations sparked outrage and a policy change that’s more considerate of the user followed shortly thereafter.

The company published a to the Apple newsroom that said “When we store Siri data on our servers, we don’t use it to build a marketing profile and we never sell it to anyone.”

In any case, some iPhone users may want to switch off Siri’s pricked up ears due to a lack of use.

In Settings, go into the “Siri & Search” folder and toggle off Listen for “Hey Siri” with a single tap.

You can also turn off Siri entirely by toggling off the Press Side Button for Siri.

To delete your past Siri correspondence, click Siri & Dictation history below the two top toggles, and hit delete.

Google Assistant’s settings are slightly more buried.

On the Google Pixel, under Settings for Google apps, you’ll find the Assistant and Voice tab.

Select it, then click Google & Voice Match and turn off the Hey Google switch.

Alexa, one of Amazon’s flagship products, is not platformed by a device the way Siri and Google Assistant are – it’s added by choice as an app.

You can change Alexa’s recording options in the app under the folder Alexa Privacy.

Users have the option of setting a time frame for their voice recordings to be scrapped or to shut down the saving process entirely.

Big tech companies use collected data to the quality of the software.

But some argue products improvements should be sourced by beta testers, rather than customers en masse.