“Hey Siri” Not Working? Here’s How to Fix It
Apr. 17, 2024Over time, Siri has transformed the way we interact with our iPhones and other Apple devices. You canset multiple reminders, schedule alarms,restart an iPhone, and get more things done without picking up your iPhone. That said, all these conveniences might come to a still when Siri isn’t working. Fortunately, there are a few things you can try when “Hey Siri” isn’t working on your iPhone and iPad. Let’s get started and get that useful assistant back in gear.
1. Ensure Siri is Available in Your Country
While you can easily use Siri wherever you are, it’s worth knowing that Siri isn’t available in all countries. Therefore, if “Hey Siri” isn’t working on your iPhone or you don’t see Siri in the Settings app, you must checkApple’s official Support Pageto see if Siri is available in your country.
Before you try any other fix, take a moment and verify that you’ve enabled Siri on your iPhone. This is one of the most common reasons why “Hey Siri” isn’t working on AirPods. You probably know that Siri doesn’t work automatically, you have to enable and set it up for yourself. You’ll be prompted to activate Siri while you’re setting up your iPhone for the first time. If you’ve skipped this step, you can head to the Settings app and turn on Siri, whenever you want to.
To avoid any issues, it’s a nice idea to double-check that you’ve enabled Siri on your iPhone. Here’s how to do it:
In case the toggle is off, turn it on. When theSet Up “Hey Siri”screen appears, tap onContinue.Now, read out each command that appears on the screen. Finally, tap onDoneto finish setting up Siri on your iPhone.
If you’ve set up Siri, it will speak responses to you, by default. That said, you might have unknowingly changed some settings related to Siri. It’s pretty common if you often tweak settings on your iPhone. If I talk about myself, I often switch to “Prefer Silent Responses” when I’m using Siri in my office, a cafe, or a public place. Sometimes, I forget to switch back to the spoken responses and then wonder why Siri isn’t answering when I give a command from a distance.
If you’ve set Siri responses to be silent, it might appear that “Hey Siri” isn’t working for you. Now, that’s obvious. You would expect spoken responses after you’ve given some commands from a distance. And, when Siri doesn’t read aloud anything, you would feel that something’s not right.
Now, before you conclude that Siri isn’t working, you must check some settings.
If you’ve kept your iPhone facing downwards on your desk, table, or bed, you can’t invoke Apple’s voice assistant with the “Hey Siri” command. Now, that doesn’t you can’t use Siri on your iPhone when the screen is facing down or covered. For this, you just need to enable an option in the Siri settings. Let me show you that:
Once you’ve done this, you can say “Hey Siri” to bring up the voice assistance when your iPhone is facing down or covered.
If you own multiple Apple devices that work with Siri, like an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you may notice that a few of them respond to “Hey Siri” at once. Now, this isn’t a flaw. Rather, there’s an issue with your device settings.
To avoid any problems, you just have to make sure that Bluetooth is enabled on each of your Apple devices by going toSettings -> Bluetooth.Wondering, why? Now, that’s because when you say “Hey Siri”, the supported Apple devices will use Bluetooth to talk to each other and decide which device should respond to your command. Generally, the Apple device that will hear your commands the clearest or the one that’s most recently raised, unlocked, or used will respond to your “Hey Siri” command.
If Siri isn’t responding on your iPhone, it could be due to a temporary glitch or minor bugs. The easiest way to rule out any minor iOS bugs is torestart your iPhone.It will also reset some temporary settings to start the system afresh. Some users may feel this method is quite old-school, but it still remains one of the best ways to fix common software issues, even today. So, make sure to give it a try.
On iPhones with a Face ID, press and hold theVolume Up/Downand theSide button simultaneously. Then, drag the Power Off Slider toturn off your iPhone.Wait for around a minute and then press & hold the Side button to turn on your iPhone.
If your iPhone’s microphone is blocked or not working properly, “Hey Siri” won’t work as it would usually do. After all, if the microphone isn’t working, Siri can’t pick up what you’re saying. As a result, it may appear that “Hey Siri” isn’t working. To understand if the mic is the problem, follow the below steps:
Once you’re sure that the microphone is clean and nothing is blocking its way, try using Siri and see if it’s working now.
Today, Siri supports several wireless earbuds and headphones that are equipped with a microphone. Specifically, below is the list of Bluetooth earbuds and headphones that work with “Hey Siri”:
If you’ve connected microphone-equipped headphones, speakers, or even your car, Siri may start listening to that device for input. There can be instances when the Bluetooth device is connected but you aren’t using it. In such a case, your iPhone may not respond to “Hey Siri”.
To fix this, you should either wear your earbuds/headphones or disconnect them from your iPhone if you don’t want to use them at the moment. Here’s how to do it:
Once you’ve disconnected the Bluetooth devices, you should be able to use Siri hands free on your iPhone.
Sometimes, Siri may not work properly on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac due to some software bugs. The best way to deal with this is to look for software updates. Running an older software version may interfere with several features on your Apple devices and even trigger performance-related issues. So, it’s always a good idea to install the latest, stable version of iOS on your iPhone.
When “Hey Siri” isn’t working after an update or Siri won’t recognize your voice, you might have to set up Siri again in a quiet environment. If you’ve set up Siri in an environment with a lot of background noise like an AC or fan, the voice assistant may not work properly or fail to recognize trigger words.
In such cases, the best you can do is disable and re-enable Siri on your iPhone. Ideally, this should help you fix common problems where Siri doesn’t respond to your voice commands.
Here’s how to reset Siri:
If resetting Siri doesn’t work, you can reset all settings on your iPhone to fix “Hey Siri” not working problems. When you do this, all the settings like Wi-Fi passwords, VPN information, Keyboard settings, and more will restore to their defaults. Bear in mind thatresetting all settings is different from afactory reset.All your downloaded data, media, and apps will remain untouched. Therefore, you don’t need toback up your iPhonein this process.
Follow the below steps to reset all settings on an iPhone:
If none of the above steps worked for you, it’s probably time to visit the nearest Apple store and get your iPhone examined by geniuses. There might be some hardware issues or complex bugs that can only be examined by Apple-certified technicians. In such cases, you can’t and shouldn’t do anything at your end or switch to risky DIYs as they can void the warranty or even leave your device beyond repair.
So, those were the 12 ways to fix “Hey Siri” not working problems on your iPhone or iPad. We hope the above solutions helped you fix those annoying issues and Siri can now respond to your voice commands without any hassle.
Which trick worked for you? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
