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Siri does not execute (raise to speak)

M

Midway123

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 23, 2017
26
10
all,

When using Siri from a wrist raise, intermittently it registers fine what I say (for example “lights out”) and displays the same text, to then immediately disappear without executing the command. Hey Siri or holding the crown does not show the same behavior. I have seen this mentioned in several other threads but have not heard a cause/solution yet. Do all af you experience this behavior and has anyone found a fix? I see it happening ever since the GM of watchOS 5.0 has been installed (and up to and including the currently installed 5.1.1. I would love to hear if this is a known bug or if there is a user-side fix.
 
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I have a Series 4 watch and it almost never performs the Raise to Speak functionality at all. In fact, I’m not even sure what’s supposed to happen. I have raised my hand to close to my face and spoken a command, to no effect. The other evening I used the same gesture and the Siri screen appeared a few times and I was able to make queries successfully.

Is that screen supposed to show if you execute the gesture properly? Or should Siri operate in the background when you bring the watch near your mouth?

(I had a Series 0 throughout the beta period so was not able to use WatchOS 5 until after 5.1 was released. So I don’t know how the functionality worked during the beta when it sounds like it was performing better.)
 
I am running the latest beta of watchOS and find it reasonably accurate and reliable as long as at the moment I raise my wrist to my mouth I talk loudly into it - it’s pretty good. Otherwise, like you guys, it just doesn’t register.
 
StumpyBloke said:
I am running the latest beta of watchOS and find it reasonably accurate and reliable as long as at the moment I raise my wrist to my mouth I talk loudly into it - it’s pretty good. Otherwise, like you guys, it just doesn’t register.
Click to expand...

When you do the raise gesture, does the Siri screen come on or do you just talk to the normal watchface?
 
StumpyBloke said:
I am running the latest beta of watchOS and find it reasonably accurate and reliable as long as at the moment I raise my wrist to my mouth I talk loudly into it - it’s pretty good. Otherwise, like you guys, it just doesn’t register.
Click to expand...

I agree that talking loudly helps, almost like you're talking to someone a few feet away instead of to your wrist.

I've mentioned before that I turned it off because if I was talking to someone as I looked at the time, Siri would try to execute whatever I was talking about.

Before I disabled the feature, I found it was better to speak as I was turning my wrist rather than waiting when I wanted to actually use it.
 
Last edited:
gwhizkids said:
When you do the raise gesture, does the Siri screen come on or do you just talk to the normal watchface?
Click to expand...

The normal watch face comes on (whichever I’ve chosen) and then Siri comes on as soon as I talk. It’s like one smooth movement...raise to mouth and immediately talk quite loudly.
 
My question is not that raise to speak does not work (I know it is somewhat timing and volume sensitive), it picks up my voice and displays my spoken command correctly. After fully hearing the command (correctly), instead of executing it, the watch resets immediately to the watch face. This behavior does never occur when holding the crown or from hey Siri, but rather frequently (not always) from raise to speak.

So to be clear:

Raise to wake: usually ok, understand how it works
Raise to speak: takes skill but got it, not the question

When both work as per design:

Execution of (correctly picked up) command from raise to speak does not always happen, instead reset back to watch face

Hope that clarifies my question.
 
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Midway123 said:
My question is not that raise to speak does not work (I know it is somewhat timing and volume sensitive), it picks up my voice and displays my spoken command correctly. After fully hearing the command (correctly), instead of executing it, the watch resets immediately to the watch face. This behavior does never occur when holding the crown or from hey Siri, but rather frequently (not always) from raise to speak.

So to be clear:

Raise to wake: usually ok, understand how it works
Raise to speak: takes skill but got it, not the question

When both work as per design:

Execution of (correctly picked up) command from raise to speak does not always happen, instead reset back to watch face

Hope that clarifies my question.
Click to expand...

Didn’t mean to hijack your thread, but I do think the issues are likely related.
 
Some people are having issues getting Siri to listen at all. I have the same issue as you op. I see on screen that the watch heard everything I just said, then it jumps back to the watch face.

I’ve noticed that when I first put the watch on my wrist it works perfectly for a couple of times. Then it starts failing again. I have not found a fix. I hope there is one cause when it works it’s excellent.
 
It's all in the flick of the wrist.

Arms on lap or side = works!
Arms on table raised to near your face = not working/intermittent.

I hate looking like an idiot when Raise to Siri doesn't invoke. Press and holding the crown would give you a better chance of Siri being able to hear you.
 
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rdy0329 said:
It's all in the flick of the wrist.

Arms on lap or side = works!
Arms on table raised to near your face = not working/intermittent.

I hate looking like an idiot when Raise to Siri doesn't invoke. Press and holding the crown would give you a better chance of Siri being able to hear you.
Click to expand...


Do you mean that the type of flick of wrist differs in Siri picking up your command or executing it. It picks up fine, displays my spoken words on screen (i.e. "lights on") but doesn't execute. I get it that if siri doesn't pick up it doesn't execute (that's rather obvious).

Do you mean it's in the flick of the wrist for siri to pick up, or do you mean even if it picks up whether it executes the command or not?
 
I have the same problem. Siri comes up, registers the query and then just disappears instead of being processed.
 
Same problem here, siri animation comes up, sometimes it transcribes what I said, then it goes away and it doesn't execute the comand, the regular watch face comes back.

When this happens I just press the crown. At first I used to try again with the gesture alone or speaking "Oye Siri", but these also gave inconstant results after the first fail, so now I just use the crown.
 
user1234 said:
I have the same problem. Siri comes up, registers the query and then just disappears instead of being processed.
Click to expand...

I have not had this happen often, but I definitely have seen it. Siri acts just like this guy I work with. "Hey Bob, can you update that excel doc and send it out?" "Sure!" *doesn't actually do it*
 
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porkrind said:
I have not had this happen often, but I definitely have seen it. Siri acts just like this guy I work with. "Hey Bob, can you update that excel doc and send it out?" "Sure!" *doesn't actually do it*
Click to expand...

Except Siri doesn't acknowledge anything. My query shows up on the screen and then nothing. I'm sure it's known by Apple and I kind of expect an update to both iOS and watchOS this week. They promised the ECG update this year and and I'm sure they want it out in good time before the holidays in case of issues that need to be fixed prior to the engineers taking time off.

Sounds like a fun guy to work with though!
 
user1234 said:
Except Siri doesn't acknowledge anything. My query shows up on the screen and then nothing. I'm sure it's known by Apple and I kind of expect an update to both iOS and watchOS this week. They promised the ECG update this year and and I'm sure they want it out in good time before the holidays in case of issues that need to be fixed prior to the engineers taking time off.

Sounds like a fun guy to work with though!
Click to expand...
LOL re Bob...

Is anyone experiencing any of the problems noted here (Siri activates, shows query and then does nothing -OR- Siri won't even activate) on the beta for WatchOS 5.1.2?
 
Midway123 said:
Do you mean that the type of flick of wrist differs in Siri picking up your command or executing it. It picks up fine, displays my spoken words on screen (i.e. "lights on") but doesn't execute. I get it that if siri doesn't pick up it doesn't execute (that's rather obvious).

Do you mean it's in the flick of the wrist for siri to pick up, or do you mean even if it picks up whether it executes the command or not?
Click to expand...

user1234 said:
I have the same problem. Siri comes up, registers the query and then just disappears instead of being processed.
Click to expand...

I see. I've had this issue as well. I usually restart both my phone and watch if that happens. It might be a connection issue or really just a bug. They also need to bring device hierarchy to prevent Watch and a phone on the table from triggering when speaking "hey siri" HomePod does it very well.
 
rdy0329 said:
It's all in the flick of the wrist.

Arms on lap or side = works!
Arms on table raised to near your face = not working/intermittent.

I hate looking like an idiot when Raise to Siri doesn't invoke. Press and holding the crown would give you a better chance of Siri being able to hear you.
Click to expand...

I agree with your assessment of when the raise to active works. Unfortunately it’s finicky enough that I use the press the crown method unless both hands are full.
 
Same here. Siri comes up and transcribes my command. Then screen goes back to watch face or goes dark without executing command.
I was able to get it to perform properly maybe once or twice, but it took several times to get it to work. Might as well just say "Hey Siri" since you end up saving time in the long run with all the repeated phrases and commands otherwise.
 
I've found that if the screen is on and I say "Hey Siri" my S4 will usually respond and I can continue with a command.

I've given up on raise to speak without a "Hey Siri". My success rate with that was abysmal.
 
I am having the same issue since getting the S4 on Monday. The watch will show what I say and then it just goes away. I have not been able to get raise to speak to work (execute the command) at all.
 
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