(Image credit: Tom's Guide / John Velasco)

Between testing whether our iPhones really listen to us for targeted ads and writing guides on shutting down smart TV snooping , I’m pretty used to investigating microphone privacy. But seeing @cybersecuritygirl's reel about a hidden Apple feature logging transcripts made me stop and take a closer look.

I dug straight into my iPhone's setting to investigate what was going on. The culprit being called out is a built-in feature called Live Listen — and while it may seem like covert spyware on the surface, the reality of its purpose is actually quite different.

What Live Listen actually is (and why it exists)

(Image credit: Tom's Guide / John Velasco)

In iOS, Live Listen is an accessibility tool rather than spyware or an automated snooping algorithm.…