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Why is "Hey Siri" getting slower and slower to respond?

M

MR_Boogy

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 6, 2012
140
19
I've only had this Retina iMac a few weeks, and it's the first time I've bothered using Siri (or equivalent) on any devices.
When the box was brand new I'd say "Hey Siri" and instantly the Siri popup would appear on screen. I noticed a week or two back it was no longer instant, but taking a second or so. And it seems to be getting slower and slower - today it was more like 2 seconds.

If it doesn't pop up instantly I don't know if its heard me and the utility of casually "hey Siri do xxx" is lost if I have to wait and see, I just won't use it. Anyone else seen similar?
 
Well, I don't use "hey Siri" on my Mac, because I have an iPhone, and it will pick that up instead. But you can also simply click the Siri icon in the top right menu bar to activate as well.
 
usagora said:
Well, I don't use "hey Siri" on my Mac, because I have an iPhone, and it will pick that up instead. But you can also simply click the Siri icon in the top right menu bar to activate as well.
Click to expand...
I'm aware of that but it's not my question.

I can add that clicking the button, the popup appears instantly. So it does seem to be specifically the "hey siri" vocal trigger which is slow. I haven't changed anything on my mac in terms of settings/setup though.
 
d000hg said:
I'm aware of that but it's not my question.
Click to expand...

Well I didn't know for sure if you were aware of it, so that's why I mentioned it. I was just offering a workaround if you think the vocal regognition response time is too slow. I can test the "hey Siri" on both my iMac and MBA tonight and let you know how it performs for me.
 
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usagora said:
Well I didn't know for sure if you were aware of it, so that's why I mentioned it. I was just offering a workaround if you think the vocal regognition response time is too slow. I can test the "hey Siri" on both my iMac and MBA tonight and let you know how it performs for me.
Click to expand...
Cool, thanks. For me, I only use Siri when I'm not at the keyboard - I was very surprised that I used it at all. Things like as I leave the office "hey siri put this mac to sleep" for instance when I realise I left it turned on as I turn the lights off. Nothing important, but then that's the point of Siri, stuff you can do other ways but is slightly easier :)
 
d000hg said:
Cool, thanks. For me, I only use Siri when I'm not at the keyboard - I was very surprised that I used it at all. Things like as I leave the office "hey siri put this mac to sleep" for instance when I realise I left it turned on as I turn the lights off. Nothing important, but then that's the point of Siri, stuff you can do other ways but is slightly easier :)
Click to expand...

My current frustration with Siri is on my Apple Watch. It has the "raise-to-speak" feature (no need to say "Hey Siri") but it seems like about 30-40% of the time it doesn't work. It will recognize my speech and show what I said on the screen, but then it just disappears and I have to try 1-2 more times before it works . . . then sometimes it works 10 times in a row without issue. Go figure.
 
Here's the response time on my 2020 MBA (my 2019 iMac doesn't support "Hey Siri"):


Seems completely normal to me and on par with my iPhone.
 
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usagora said:
Here's the response time on my 2020 MBA (my 2019 iMac doesn't support "Hey Siri"):


Seems completely normal to me and on par with my iPhone.
Click to expand...
I rebooted my Mac last night since there was a pending update and it now is very quick again. I rarely tun the Mac off so my theory is performance degrades over time... which is somewhat surprising because even Windows boxes can run for months on end these days.

I'll see if the pattern repeats!
 
d000hg said:
I rebooted my Mac last night since there was a pending update and it now is very quick again. I rarely tun the Mac off so my theory is performance degrades over time... which is somewhat surprising because even Windows boxes can run for months on end these days.

I'll see if the pattern repeats!
Click to expand...

Well, I keep my iMac running 24/7 and notice no performance issues, though of course it's not compatible with this specific feature ("Hey Siri") - but nothing else goes awry.
 
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usagora said:
Well, I keep my iMac running 24/7 and notice no performance issues, though of course it's not compatible with this specific feature ("Hey Siri") - but nothing else goes awry.
Click to expand...
Other things all seemed fine, which is what you'd expect. It might be some weird bug.

I'm curious why Siri isn't available, our iMacs are only a year apart. Hadn't realised it had a hardware requirement, but I guess it must.
 
d000hg said:
Other things all seemed fine, which is what you'd expect. It might be some weird bug.

I'm curious why Siri isn't available, our iMacs are only a year apart. Hadn't realised it had a hardware requirement, but I guess it must.
Click to expand...

I can use Siri on my iMac - I just can't activate it using voice ("Hey Siri"). My iMac is a 2019 model and only 2020 iMacs and later support "Hey Siri"

Use Siri on all your Apple devices - Apple Support

Use Siri to help you with the things you need to find, know, or do every day. Find your Apple device here to learn how to use Siri.
support.apple.com support.apple.com
 
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