How to fix Siri that is not working, not responding properly on your Apple iPhone XR

While many iPhone owners are rejoicing after updating to iOS 12, some are complaining as they were facing various problems after installing the latest iOS version on their iOS devices. One of the reported post-update issues is on Siri that suddenly stops working on the phone. Others have it that Siri seems not hearing any their voices as the wavy line does not move while they’re talking. In short, the new iOS update makes Siri turned deaf.

Aside from bad updates, there are also other factors that can make such things happen to Siri. In this particular context, I will tackle a pertinent issue with Siri that is not associated with an iOS update flaw. Read on to find out what to do whenever you will bump into an issue in which the iPhone XR Siri feature suddenly stops working or fails to respond properly to your voice input commands.

If you happen to find this post while trying to find a solution to a different problem, then visit our iPhone XR Help Guides as we already addressed some of the most common issues with this new phone. We may have already published articles that tackle your problem.

How to troubleshoot iPhone XR with Siri that’s not working properly?

Before you begin troubleshooting, try to adjust the volume level on your iPhone. This is to ensure that both you and Siri can hear and understand each other clearly. You can increase the volume through the control center, settings menu, or using the physical Volume Up key on the side of your iPhone.

First solution: Turn Siri off and then back on.

Like any other features, Siri can also go rogue at some point. And this is when Siri shows unusual symptoms or worst just stops working at all. Random bugs are usually to blame, if not minor system data corruption on the phone. To clear this out, just restart your iPhone’s Siri feature with these steps:

  1. Open the Settings app.
  2. Tap General.
  3. Tap Siri.
  4. If Siri is already turned on, toggle the switch turn it off for a few seconds and then turn it on again.

Restart/soft reset your iPhone XR and then try to launch Siri on your iPhone XR, speak to it clearly and see if it’s already able to understand you. If it still doesn’t respond properly, then move and try other possible solutions.

Second solution: Check and manage Internet connection on your iPhone XR.

Siri won’t be able to respond to voice input commands requesting online services or Internet access if your device has no internet connection in the first place. If you’re phone is having trouble with Wi-Fi internet, try connecting via cellular data.

  1. To do this, go to Settings-> Cellular-> Cellular Data then tap the switch to enable the feature.
  2. You can also set your device to choose 4G network by going to Cellular Data Options-> Voice & Data-> then select 4G from the menu options.

If Siri is not working when using Cellular data connection, then switch to a Wi-Fi network instead.

  • To change this setting, go to Settings-> Wi-Fi menu to enable the feature and connect to your preferred Wi-Fi network.

Then try to speak to Siri again and see if it already understands you.

Third solution: Try using Siri with a headset or change language for Siri.

The underlying cause of the problem could be on the microphone or built-in speaker of your iPhone XR. Siri is likely having a hard time processing your voice commands because the speaker or microphone is not working. To rule this out, try to use a headset while talking to Siri. If Siri is able to grasp and properly executes voice commands through a headset, then you’re most likely dealing with a hardware issue. It’s either the microphone or speaker is dirty or worst, damaged.

To ensure that language isn’t the underlying cause, try to set up or change the language for Siri.

  • To do this, go to Settings-> General-> Siri-> Languages menu, then change the language to whichever you’d prefer to use.

Then retry speaking to Siri using the new language you choose. If it’s able to understand you now, then the problem is solved and you’re good to go. Otherwise, continue to troubleshoot.

Fourth solution: Reset all settings on your iPhone XR.

Resetting all settings on your phone can potentially resolve the issue if invalid settings or incorrect options have something to do with it. This can be the root cause if you happened to customize your iPhone settings before Siri stops working or goes rogue. There might be some options that you enabled which isn’t supposed to be enabled in the first place. So here’s what you can try next:

  1. Open the Settings app from Home.
  2. Tap General.
  3. Scroll down to and tap on Reset.
  4. Select Reset all settings from the given options. Doing so will erase customized settings on the phone and then restores the original configuration and default values.
  5. If prompted, enter your device passcode to continue.
  6. Then tap the option to confirm Reset all settings.

Wait for your iPhone to finish resetting and wiping all your customized settings. When it’s done resetting, it will restart by itself. As soon as it’s finished booting up, start enabling necessary features including Wi-Fi to reconnect to the Internet and get your iPhone XR online again.

Fifth solution: Reset and restore your iPhone XR to its factory defaults (master reset).

Among the last options to try would be a factory data reset or master reset. This reset is usually needed when dealing with persistent symptoms inflicted by complex system errors on the phone. It’s possible that Siri is going through some major data corruption and no longer able to work as intended. In that case, you’ve got no choice but to wipe everything from your device and then set it up as new. Any errors and corrupted data that may have prevented Siri from working properly should then be obliterated.

  1. To factory reset through settings menu, go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings > enter your passcodes > tap Erase iPhone.
  2. To factory reset through iTunes, you will need to connect your iPhone to the computer via USB cable or Lightning cable, wait for iTunes to recognize and then follow the given commands to reset and restore your iPhone XR using iTunes.

Other options

If a factory reset still failed to solve the problem, the next options to try on would be an iOS restore either through recovery mode or DFU mode. Both these methods are carried out through iTunes so make sure you got your computer ready to get this done. A step-by-step walkthrough on how to perform a recovery mode restore or DFU mode restore on the iPhone XR can be found on the Tutorials section of this site. Visit the iPhone XR troubleshooting page for further information.

For other options and more advanced solutions, escalate the problem to Apple Support. Let them know exactly of what happened and how you ended up having an unresponsive Siri on your iPhone XR handset.

I hope that this how-to post has helped you one way or another. Please help us spread the word by sharing this post to your friends or people who may also have similar problems. Thanks for reading!


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