User level: Level 1 (4 points)Why won’t Siri read my texts to me without me having to unlock my iPhone??? YES i have done all the things. All the appropriate buttons are toggled on. Restarted the phone. Still will not work, and I’m about to give up on iPhone all together and go back to android where life was peaceful and uncomplicated. I NEED my Siri to read me my texts. So this phone is worthless to me.
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Original Title: SIRI WILL NOT READ MY TEXTS WITHOUT MAKING ME UNLOCK PHONE
Posted on Nov 3, 2026 5:34 AM
User level: Level 10 (233,174 points)Nov 3, 2026 7:47 AM in response to AmyPompilio
AmyPompilio wrote:
Why won’t Siri read my texts to me without me having to unlock my iPhone??? YES i have done all the things. All the appropriate buttons are toggled on. Restarted the phone. Still will not work, and I’m about to give up on iPhone all together and go back to android where life was peaceful and uncomplicated. I NEED my Siri to read me my texts. So this phone is worthless to me.
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Original Title: SIRI WILL NOT READ MY TEXTS WITHOUT MAKING ME UNLOCK PHONE
That's correct and your phone is doing what it was designed to do. Even with Use Siri While Locked, for privacy protection, there are things Siri will NOT do if the phone is locked. Reading texts aloud, is one such thing.
Keep in mind that Siri can and will respond to anyone who wakes Siri, not just by you. Would you honestly be comfortable if just anyone could ask Siri to read your texts out loud? I know I wouldn't want that.
User level: Level 10 (454,138 points)Nov 3, 2026 7:42 AM in response to AmyPompilio
Please check this out first.
Settings > FaceID and Passcode > Siri [Enable]. Even after this, unlocking the iPhone is typically required for Siri to reply to a message for security reasons. Read more in my next post.
User level: Level 10 (107,674 points)Nov 9, 2026 2:15 PM in response to blovecky
blovecky wrote:
Yeah, but what if we don’t really care about that.
I really don’t care much about privacy anyway
But my phone is never where someone can speak to it, it’s either in my pocket or on my nightstand
When this comes into play is when I get a text message when I’m in the shower, I would like to shout to it and have it read it to me so I can know if it’s important
This has always worked before, and suddenly it is not working anymore
There should be an override, I guess if people wanna be extra cautious about everything… But that’s not me, I don’t subscribe to the tinfoil hat
So just let me turn all the privacy stuff off, please!!
Turn off passcode and see where it gets you and what you will lose.
User level: Level 1 (8 points)Nov 9, 2026 2:00 PM in response to LD150
Yeah, but what if we don’t really care about that.
I really don’t care much about privacy anyway
But my phone is never where someone can speak to it, it’s either in my pocket or on my nightstand
When this comes into play is when I get a text message when I’m in the shower, I would like to shout to it and have it read it to me so I can know if it’s important
This has always worked before, and suddenly it is not working anymore
There should be an override, I guess if people wanna be extra cautious about everything… But that’s not me, I don’t subscribe to the tinfoil hat
So just let me turn all the privacy stuff off, please!!
User level: Level 10 (107,674 points)Nov 3, 2026 7:49 AM in response to AmyPompilio
What lobsterghost1 said -remember Siri does not recognise your voice in a secure way. She will talk with anyone.
Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256388125