Dictation broken after iPadOS 18.4

[Wizec]

I have an iPad Pro M4 11”

After installing iPadOS 18.4 dictation has stopped working when my iPad wakes from sleep.

If I restart, or force restart my iPad, it works until it sleeps, then it’s broke until the next restart.

Is anyone else seeing this same issue?

It’s not broken on my iPhone 16 Pro on iOS 18.4.

 

[Slartibart]

if you have only restarted - shut the iPP down instead and then power it up again. this fixed that problem (and some others) on a few affected iPads in the pool we admin at work.

 

[Wizec]

if you have only restarted - shut the iPP down instead and then power it up again. this fixed that problem (and some others) on a few affected iPads in the pool we admin at work.

That’s what I did. Since Apple doesn’t have a “restart” option, you have to shut it down and then start it up again. That’s what I mean when I say restart.

 

[Slartibart]

just for the protocol: there are a restart as well as a shutdown option available in iOS/iPadOS. “Hey Siri, restart iPad” or “Hey Siri, shutdown iPad” are examples to access these. both have different effects on the system - the shutdown combined with date adjustment and no network connectivity will purge system caches, something a restart will not do.

 

[Wizec]

just for the protocol: there are a restart as well as a shutdown option available in iOS/iPadOS. “Hey Siri, restart iPad” or “Hey Siri, shutdown iPad” are examples to access these. both have different effects on the system - the shutdown combined with date adjustment and no network connectivity will purge system caches, something a restart will not do.

Ok, but as I already wrote, I didn’t restart it. I shut it down and turned it back on… for simplicity’s sake, I typed “restart” in my original post.

 

[Wizec]

I was able to fix this once and for all by turning Siri off and back on.

 

[donawalt]

I am having this problem too. I have done a hard-reset (vol up-vol down hold on/off button, and I have also turned Siri off and on/retrained it. So then it worked last night, but this morning it has failed again.

 

[Wizec]

I am having this problem too. I have done a hard-reset (vol up-vol down hold on/off button, and I have also turned Siri off and on/retrained it. So then it worked last night, but this morning it has failed again.

I also disabled and reenabled dictation under settings, general, keyboards. After that, I disabled and reenabled Siri.

 

[Wizec]

I installed iPadOS 18.4.1 and now dictation is broken and I can’t seem to get it working again no matter what I do.

 

[donawalt]

After a hard reset yesterday morning, my iPad's dictation was working fine all day, even through sleep times. But this morning, it is broken again. iPhone has always been fine.

 

[donawalt]

Same thing today - shut down, worked awhile, later in the day, not working again.

 

[Daedalus65]

I have observed/narrowed down the behavior I am experiencing. Reboot required to fix it. I noticed that dictation (including text in messages and siri requests) STOP working after using the feature connecting to bluetooth. In my case, the bluetooth option on my aftermarket CarPlay deck. After trying turning off dictation, closing apps, and things short of rebooting, I had the thought to try wired headphone (no go) but then my airpods - aka another bluetooth option. It worked! But alas, only while using bluetooth. i tried turning off bluetooth to see if that would correcdt the problem short of rebooting, but it did not. So still have to reboot - UNLESS I go back to a bluetooth input, then it starts working again.

 

[donawalt]

This is happening on both my 2024 iPad pro and iPhone 16 ProMax, and it's maddening. Restarts do clear it up, but it comes back sooner vs. later. My iPad is never really on Bluetooth that I am aware of, and my iPhone is on CarPlay. I didn't read;lize how much I use dictation until now, when it's broken.

I wonder why more people aren't reporting it. What's unique about our situations...

 

[Wizec]

Restarts don’t fix it for me anymore. I have to go disable and reenable Dictation in settings.

Maybe very few people use dictation on iPads so Apple isn’t hearing about it/doesn’t care? 🤔

 

[donawalt]

Yes but it happens on my iPhone 16 Pro too.

 

[Wizec]

iOS 18.5 seems to have fixed the issue, so far.

 

[donawalt]

GREAT! Can't wait.

 

[SoYoung]

Same problem here with my M4 iPad Pro since 18.4.1 (updated from 18.3.2) strangely all my other iPads and my iPhone 16 pro max don’t have this issue. Hope 18.5 will fix this.

 

[Wizec]

Still working for me on 18.5 for the last few days.

 

[donawalt]

Next week 18.5 should be released! Can't wait - driving me nuts having to keep restarting my iPad and iPhone to temp fix it.

@Wizec did you do anything before you installed 18.5 beta, like turn off dictation, toggle it after the install, or anything? Or did you just install 18.5 and dictation started working?

 

[SoYoung]

Next week 18.5 should be released! Can't wait - driving me nuts having to keep restarting my iPad and iPhone to temp fix it.

@Wizec did you do anything before you installed 18.5 beta, like turn off dictation, toggle it after the install, or anything? Or did you just install 18.5 and dictation started working?

If you can’t wait to install 18.5, just turn on public beta and install the RC. At this point we can all assume it will be the same build as we’ll have in 2-3 days.

 

[Wizec]

Next week 18.5 should be released! Can't wait - driving me nuts having to keep restarting my iPad and iPhone to temp fix it.

@Wizec did you do anything before you installed 18.5 beta, like turn off dictation, toggle it after the install, or anything? Or did you just install 18.5 and dictation started working?

I just installed the 18.5 RC and it worked since then.

 

[donawalt]

I just installed 18.5 Gen Rlse on my iPad and iPhone, As it happened, both had dictation failing before the update. After the update, they both had dictation working (although arestart would temporarily fix it as well). So let's see if it stays working!!!