[phishfi]

I hate these anecdotal stories and how they're used as absolute evidence that something like this is happening. Google would never allow the data from their back end recording to be seen by other apps, for the same reason that this article says Facebook keeps the data they collect close hold: it gives away their exclusivity.

Seriously. You met with a friend at some place where you probably sat around and talked for a long time together. Is it unreasonable that FB saw the two of you were together at a place where you might reminisce about previous trips together.

As for saying specific phrases near your phone, this sounds like Baader-Meinhof to me. The writer probably spent a lot longer on FB than usual, which led to more ads (and an expanding category of ads to keep from repeating the same ones over and over), leading to him finally seeing what he was hoping to see.

There's just no way that either Google or Apple are storing the voice recording data anywhere where other apps could see it. Further, I don't think either are maintaining recordings long enough to make sense of a conversation or even full sentence. In Google's case, they've talked ad nauseum about how it's just a voice signature they listen for and they never maintain non-triggered audio (even device-side).