Siri used to answer me when I asked for my elevation or altitude, which was nice when hiking. Now it doesn't understand. Anyone else notice recent loss of Siri usefulness?

Since iOS 13 rolled out, Siri seems to be slowly degrading with each new release. All too often I get the “I found ....” instead of an actual answer.

Still, every once in a blue moon, Siri manages to surprise me.

Siri does not work for me at all in iOS 14. It used to work fine in iOS 13, but now, whenever I say “Hey Siri”, it’s spinning ball pops up, as it should, but it appears it does not listen and the ball disappears in a few seconds without any feedback. ??‍♂️

BostonQuad said:

Siri used to answer me when I asked for my elevation or altitude, which was nice when hiking. Now it doesn't understand. Anyone else notice recent loss of Siri usefulness?

Do other simple Siri commands work for you?

I know this is the place to say “Apple products are always the best!” and I usually say that too, but Siri is an absolute disaster. If you try talking to Alexa and then try Siri, the difference is laughable.

I’m not even sure if the claim “At least Siri cares about your privacy” is really accurate. There have been news stories about Siri data being used for most of the same analytics as every other device.

Yeah, I've noticed other things with Siri - far more false positives to activate since iOS 13 (i.e., listening for input when cooking, washing hands, etc.) in particular.

e.g., I use my watch for timing things when cooking. I'll be monitoring the timer and siri is regularly trying to activate and kicking me out of the timer screen.

It never used to do that.

one more said:

Siri does not work for me at all in iOS 14. It used to work fine in iOS 13, but now, whenever I say “Hey Siri”, it’s spinning ball pops up, as it should, but it appears it does not listen and the ball disappears in a few seconds without any feedback. ??‍♂️

Same for me, after 14.0 its completely useless to me.

Has she ever been smart?

shadyman said:

Has she ever been smart?

Well, some of the things siri does n the background (like intelligently setting up navigation based on appointments, learning behaviours, suggesting things, etc.) is pretty neat. But the voice activation/recognition has gone backwards in my experience.

shadyman said:

Has she ever been smart?

It was much better for me in iOS 13. I could actually ask it to call people, set a timer, play a playlist in Spotify, etc. Now all I get after “Hey Siri” is that psychedelic spinning ball. ?

one more said:

Do other simple Siri commands work for you?

Yes. Siri's had a lobotomy specifically in regards to elevation.

UPDATE: In a rather pleasant twist, Siri is back to normal for me since this morning, can call people, play music, set timers again, etc., so we are back together. ?

Siri always been dumb

she does seem dumber. she's forgotten who my parents are ('call mom and dad at home' ends up with a 'I don't know who your mother is' response) and it seems the voice to text function while typing isn't as smooth, either. i wasn't sure if it was the new phone (I'm on a 12 pro from an Xs) or the new operating system, but she's definitely less helpful.

pippakay said:

she does seem dumber. she's forgotten who my parents are ('call mom and dad at home' ends up with a 'I don't know who your mother is' response) and it seems the voice to text function while typing isn't as smooth, either. i wasn't sure if it was the new phone (I'm on a 12 pro from an Xs) or the new operating system, but she's definitely less helpful.

12 ProMax and seeing similar here. I am seeing more “errors” voice to text. One good item; I am seeing almost no “spur of the last moment” spell check corrections using voice to text. Siri seldoms “corrects” herself. ?????

I say hey siri call John and she says you want to call John is that right .....

And that just started before she would just call John.
And it really stinks because that's the fastest way to get some one called if there not in your incredibly short recent calls list ..

A t9 search in the dialer would be to much to ask for.

Siri AND auto-correct are both circling the toilet.

BostonQuad said:

Siri used to answer me when I asked for my elevation or altitude, which was nice when hiking. Now it doesn't understand. Anyone else notice recent loss of Siri usefulness?

I still get annoyed with Siri's rude answers from my iPad. "Hey Siri." , "mmhmm?"

Vegastouch said:

Siri has a face

Click to expand...

As in the default voice used by Siri belongs to a person?

Vegastouch said:

Siri has a face

Click to expand...

Well, at least the owner of the voice is educated:

„Bennett was born in Burlington, Vermont, and attended high school at Clinton Central Schoolin Clinton, New York. In 1967, she enrolled in Pembroke College and graduated in 1971 from Brown University after the two schools merged. While in college, Bennett concentrated her studies in the classics and intended to become a teacher. She acted in Sock and Buskin theatrical productions, was a member of a jazz band, and was a singer with the "Chattertocks" a cappella group.“ - Wikipedia

Whereas Apple‘s Siri execution seems to be more like a high school student ?

shadyman said:

Has she ever been smart?

For realz, try using google assistant and you can see just how far behind Siri is. Asking Siri something is like asking a 4-yr old kid

Well Siri does have standards, the other day I said "Hey Siri" while placing my iPhone on a charger stand. I got a low humidity spark/shock, and yelled an expletive. Siri, responded," I can't respond to that".

Seriously, Siri seems dumber on my new HomePodMini, than any of my other Apple devices. I wonder why?

She’s getting old, you have to remember that .

C DM said:

As in the default voice used by Siri belongs to a person?

Watch the video