Siri not responding on iPhone 16 Pro Max

As title says, Siri is not working. It only works if I press the side button, not by me saying "hey siri" etc.


I have turned siri off and back on again and done the 5 phrases to set it up and still nothing. I have changed the language, changed the voice, changed to prefer spoken response' and still nothing.


Obviously on IOS18.


Has anyone else had this issue because it is driving me mad. £1,400 for a phone and it doesn't work properly!

iPhone 16 Pro Max, iOS 18

Posted on Sep 25, 2024 8:44 AM

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Posted on Oct 4, 2024 9:13 PM

I went to settings>siri and tried everything suggested. Didn’t fix the problem. But when I went to settings> accessibility> Siri (at the bottom under “general”) and turned on “always listen for Siri” it fixed it. I also turned on “listen for atypical speech”. Sometimes I mumble so i figured it ight help to have on too. Hope this helps someone

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Oct 4, 2024 9:13 PM in response to chesterflaps

I went to settings>siri and tried everything suggested. Didn’t fix the problem. But when I went to settings> accessibility> Siri (at the bottom under “general”) and turned on “always listen for Siri” it fixed it. I also turned on “listen for atypical speech”. Sometimes I mumble so i figured it ight help to have on too. Hope this helps someone

Aug 2, 2025 8:43 PM in response to chesterflaps

Hey guys! Not sure if many of you found the fix for it. I came here looking for answers as well and tried everything but nothing seemed to work.

what worked for me in the end was I went to settings and then accessibility. From there I tapped on Siri and turned on “Always Listen for Hey Siri”

that fixed my issue and now I can use Siri with screen locked.

Hope this helps anyone who’s still trying to find a solution.

Oct 11, 2024 7:46 PM in response to chesterflaps

Possible fix...


I had this issue with my iPhone 16 Pro Max also. I tried going through all of the published ways to fix it, to no avail. When I did the voice retraining of Siri, it responded, but when finished, it would not respond to the voice wake-up command (the button press worked fine). However, I was able to finally get the voice wake-up to work.


Under Settings | Accessibility | Siri - I turned ON the "Always listen for "Siri"" option (enable face down activation) and it started responding to the wake-up command. When I turned the option back OFF, it still responded to the wake-up command and has been working since.


I can't say that this will work for others, but it did for me. I also can't vouch for the longevity of this fix as I only discovered it less than an hour ago. Hopefully, it will last.


Might be worth a try for others.

Oct 31, 2024 6:26 PM in response to smtips

From Oct 23:

"Updating from yesterday. Did waht support said, worked last evening,

Siri was responding with voice. Today, she isn't hearing me. I see the

speech thing for Siri when saying "Siri Call xxxx" and then it does

nothing. I repeat Siri multiple times, and no bubble at all, just not

responding. Did the other suggestions to turn on Content and Privacy

under Scren time, restarted, still same issue. I decided I'm not waiting

to see if an update fixes it, I've had the phone less than 10 days.

Taking it to the Apple Store Sunday for a replacement. Not playing these

games. "


So the update. I took it to the Apple store and swapped it on the 27th. When I started it, I updated it with default settings, I did not do a transfer of data from the old phone I set it up as default. I used it like that for 2 days. Then I did do a full data transfer from the old phone. No problems at all with Siri and I tested it a lot. I updated to 18.1 yesterday, and still no issues with Siri, response is quick, she hears me across the room, responds with MmmHmm even when I just say Siri. Works fine through my Alpine bluetooth in my truck (I don't have carplay).


So one or a combination of these things solved the problems far as I can tell. I will post again if Siri starts being a b**thead again.

Jan 16, 2025 6:18 PM in response to chesterflaps

Under settings find the “Apple intelligence & Siri”. Than find “talk to Siri” and turn it back on. That’s what I just did and Siri is working again. Frustrating that some update or maybe because I said no I don’t want to use “Apple Intelligence” that “Talk to Siri” got turned off. I have two separate iPhone 16s and miraculously that fixed my issue with Siri.

Siri not responding on iPhone 16 Pro Max

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