Apple doesn’t allow you to view your Siri search history anymore, but that information is still sent back to Apple servers and accessible to developers. Knowing this, you might want to delete your Siri search history to better protect your privacy. Your iPhone’s settings allow you to do that very easily.
Here’s how you can delete your Siri search history on an iPhone or iPad, and the difference it will make.
How to Delete Your Siri Search History
This feature was introduced with iOS and iPadOS 13, so make sure you update your iPhone or iPad first. Once you’re done, follow these steps:
- Open Settings and go to Siri & Search.
- Tap on Siri & Dictation History.
- Select Delete Siri & Dictation History.
- Choose the same option again when the popup appears to confirm your command.
The process may take a few seconds, depending on the amount of search history you have. Make sure you’re connected to the internet because the feature does not work offline. Once the process is finished, you will see a popup on your screen confirming that your request was received.
You can only delete your Siri search history if Siri is enabled. So you may need to set up Siri temporarily to delete your data if you have already disabled the voice assistant.
Why You Should Delete Your Siri Search History
Deleting your Siri and dictation history ensures that your personal information remains private. There have been certain incidents in the past where Apple admitted to analyzing users’ search history to increase the efficiency of its virtual assistant. This came despite the fact that Apple has been an advocate for promoting privacy policies, costing a major loss in revenue for social media companies in the process.
We don’t know for sure if Apple still analyzes Siri search histories, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. If you’re one to exercise your privacy rights to the fullest extent possible, deleting your Siri search history should be another checkmark on your list.
Deleting this data does not do anything to improve Siri’s functionality or increase storage space on your device.
Protect Your Privacy by Deleting Siri’s Search History
Apple is well known for the measures it takes to protect user privacy. It has introduced features like deleting the Siri search history and disabling app tracking to advocate for this.
Make sure you’re well aware of how you can use these features to protect personal data on your iPhone or iPad. You can adjust all of these features to your liking in your iPhone’s settings.