iPhone doesn't listen to users unless Siri is triggered: Apple

California [United States]: Answering many difficult questions of the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce on its use of technology for location services and data collection, Apple officially sent out a letter explaining how it takes privacy very seriously.

The letter by Apple's director of federal government affairs Timothy Powderly highlights one of the most debated issues of the Apple devices secretly listening to the users' conversations.

Clearing the confusion, Powderly states in the letter that unless a user triggers audio capture with "Hey Siri", the iPhone does not listen in.

Apple further clarified that it does not share the Siri utterances to third parties and does not collect audio recordings without consent of users.