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# Google is paying $68 million over Assistant recordings. Claims close 8/27.
- URL: https://www.freshfromcache.com/google-assistant-settlement/
- Published: 2026-08-18T11:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-18T10:59:59.000Z
- Description: The $18 to $56 estimate assumes almost nobody files. What the claim form actually asks for, which class needs a receipt, and why your Nest speaker is fine.
- Author: Joel Folgner
- Tags: News, Privacy, Google, Consumer Tech

Google agreed in January to pay $68 million to end a privacy case over Assistant. The allegation was that it recorded people when nobody said "Okay Google," and that some recordings went to outside review vendors. Google denies it and the court has made no finding. The money is real regardless.

If you have seen a dollar figure attached to the Google Assistant settlement, it was probably $56\. That is the top of a range, and that range is assuming almost nobody files. Claims close August 27.

## Where the $56 comes from

Not from a notice in your inbox or the claim form. Neither carries an estimate. The number comes from the motion asking the judge to approve the deal. The lawyers for the class wrote that a purchaser with one Google device might get $18 to $56, and a privacy claimant $2 to $10.

Those figures rest on an assumption. A.B. Data, the administrator, told the court it expects 1 to 2 percent of eligible people to file, based on its own experience and a 2019 FTC study of consumer class actions.

The 2019 study found that when people had to fill out a claim form, the median claims rate was 9 percent. For campaigns noticed by email, which is how this one went out, the study found a 2 percent median and a 3 percent average. So the assumption sits at the bottom edge of the closest comparison, and the report carries no figure for privacy cases at all. For every point the real claim rate rises above the assumption, the payout gets smaller.

Google told the same court it disagrees and thinks the class is smaller, which would mean bigger payments. The notice says outright that it is unknown how much anyone will receive. Fees come off the top first. Counsel asked for one third of the fund, $22,666,666.67, plus $1,021,738.40 in expenses and $10,000 for each of four named plaintiffs. Judge Beth Labson Freeman rules on that October 1, alongside final approval. Payment comes after that and after any appeals, realistically 2027.

## Two groups, two sets of rules

The settlement splits people into two groups. The claim form calls them classes, it asks you about each one in turn, and you can be in both.

The Purchaser class covers anyone who bought a Google Home, Home Mini, Home Max, Nest Hub, Nest Hub Max or a Pixel phone between May 18, 2016 and March 19, 2026\. That claim wants the model, the serial or IMEI number, and proof of purchase for each device, up to three. A receipt from 2018.

![The claim form's Purchaser Settlement Class page, asking whether you are a member of the purchaser class, with the class definition and the May 18, 2016 to March 19, 2026 date range printed above the question.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7f/c4/7fc42d60-e465-4098-9ae3-9930d415307c/content/images/2026/08/form-03-purchaser-question.png)

The form asks about the purchaser class first. Answering no here is what costs you the four points.

The receipt is where most people will quit, and quitting costs you the bigger claim. A purchaser claim carries four points per device. A privacy claim carries one. So look before you answer no.

Check your Google Store order history, then search your email for the order confirmation, which works no matter who sold you the thing. The form's own worked examples are a "Google Store receipt" and a "Best Buy receipt," so a retailer receipt counts. Upload what you have and expect it to be looked at. The form says you may be asked for more later, and a claim you cannot back up may be rejected.

If the receipt is truly gone, you are not locked out. File the privacy claim, which needs none of it.

The Privacy class covers anyone whose conversations were caught by a false trigger on any device running Assistant, Google's or not, plus everyone in their household. Each person files their own. There is no receipt on that side, but the form still wants the device type, the model name, and the serial or IMEI number, which is printed on the device or sitting in its settings. You attest rather than prove, under penalty of perjury and subject to audit.

![The claim form's Privacy Settlement Class panel, with required fields for device type, device model name, and serial number or IMEI number.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7f/c4/7fc42d60-e465-4098-9ae3-9930d415307c/content/images/2026/08/form-05-privacy-device-fields.png)

No receipt on the privacy side, but the serial or IMEI is still required.

## Your speaker is not being switched off

Google starts removing Assistant from Android phones and tablets, Wear OS watches, headphones and phone-projected Android Auto on September 4, over a few weeks. Speakers and displays move to Gemini for Home on their own track and keep working. So do cars with Google built in. We [said so on August 7](https://www.freshfromcache.com/also-this-week-2026-08-07/) and nothing has changed yet.

The shutdown and the settlement are unrelated. Customers aren't being paid because Assistant is going away.

## What to do before August 27

- **Type the address yourself.** [www.GoogleAssistantPrivacyLitigation.com](https://www.googleassistantprivacylitigation.com/?ref=freshfromcache.com). The [same instinct](https://www.freshfromcache.com/that-sketchy-letter-from-your-hospital-might-be-real/) that makes you suspicious of the email is the right one.
- **File without the codes.** A.B. Data emailed Unique IDs and PINs, and plenty went to spam. Underneath the login boxes there is a button that says "Don't have a Unique Id and PIN? Click Here." That is the way in.
- **Do not pay anyone.** Filing is free, the notice refuses bulk filings from claims aggregators, and a real claim never asks for a Social Security number, a password or a fee. The FTC's line from Equifax still holds true, anyone who calls to help you file is almost certainly a scammer.
- **Opt out or object by the same date.** August 27 closes all three doors.

![The settlement website's login page, asking for a Unique ID and PIN, with a button underneath that reads Don't have a Unique Id and PIN? Click Here.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7f/c4/7fc42d60-e465-4098-9ae3-9930d415307c/content/images/2026/08/form-01-login-no-codes.png)

The button underneath is the way in when the notice email never arrived.

I am going to file. It costs nothing and the case is real. I won't be telling anybody that Google owes them $56 though. If a check turns up in 2027 for a fraction of that, nobody who reads this will be surprised.

**The claim:** [Google Assistant Privacy Settlement](https://www.googleassistantprivacylitigation.com/?ref=freshfromcache.com) and the [long form notice](https://www.googleassistantprivacylitigation.com/assets/documents/In%20re%20Google%20Assistant%20Long%20Form%20Notice%5FFinal.pdf?ref=freshfromcache.com)

**Where the estimates come from:** [Motion for preliminary approval, ECF 549](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.345331/gov.uscourts.cand.345331.549.0.pdf?ref=freshfromcache.com) and the [fee motion, ECF 566](https://www.googleassistantprivacylitigation.com/assets/documents/566-Plaintiff%20Motion%20for%20Fees%2C%20Awards%2C%20Exp%20and%20Svc%20Award.pdf?ref=freshfromcache.com)

**The claims-rate study:** [Consumers and Class Actions, FTC staff report, September 2019](https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/consumers-class-actions-retrospective-analysis-settlement-campaigns/class%5Faction%5Ffairness%5Freport%5F0.pdf?ref=freshfromcache.com)

**The FTC on fake settlement sites:** [Beware of fake settlement websites](https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2019/07/equifax-data-breach-beware-fake-settlement-websites?ref=freshfromcache.com)

**The Assistant shutdown:** [Google's email to users, reported by 9to5Google](https://9to5google.com/2026/08/04/google-assistant-september-2026-shutdown/?ref=freshfromcache.com) and [Google on Gemini for Home](https://support.google.com/googlehome/answer/16618650?ref=freshfromcache.com)