You'll Need to Unlock your phone first....

SOLVED! Thank goodness. For all those frustrated - try this. Aside from the Siri settings - all prior mentions in this thread were tried and unsuccessful it’s a setting in Notification PREVIEWS.

1-Settings->Notifications->Show Previews.

2-Select “Always” instead of “When Unlocked”

An Apple Genius was stumped by this and asked another developer friend from HQ about this problem and this is the solution. Apparently Apple wants FaceID security on your phone unless you allow previews. If you say “Always” - it will allow just Siri to do her thing. Just like the old days. Not obvious but I tried it and I’m back in business.

This feature is critical for me - I tell Siri to read me any texts from the car and I was frustrated I couldn’t if the phone was locked.

The downside - you will show the first 2 lines of a text on your lock screen now. Overall I can live with that. Apple please fix this in the future - lock my screen preview AND allow Siri access from my voice.

Good luck everyone. Duane.

I was running iOS 12.3.x on my iPhone SE last week and Siri worked normally. I could view my reminders and lists by asking Siri and was NOT required to unlock my iPhone first.

After updating to iOS 13, Siri started requiring me to unlock my iPhone before I could do the same tasks. Very infuriating, especially since I use Siri a lot while I am DRIVING.

Here in Washington State, it's a traffic infraction to even be caught holding your cellphone in your vehicle while on the road, moving or not.

I have a couple of iPads and one could only upgrade to 12.4, but I haven't tested to see if it shares the same fate. I suspect I will find the same issue as you are reporting. Therefor, the logical conclusion is that your problem started due to the upgrade to 12.4.

I'm glad you posted back with a confirmation that they acknowledged the change. It would have been nice if they had posted that they changed it in the release notes before we upgraded. ;-)

It would also be nice if they made it an OPTION. Because I do understand how it could be a security concern for some of the people out there, but one person's security risk equals another person's essential feature.

Also, while Siri is still supposed to be able to do calls and messages without unlocking, I have noticed that since upping to iOS 13, Siri is having a hard time actually DOING them correctly. I'm frequently hearing Siri tell me "something has gone wrong, try again in a few minutes" or tells me to wait.

Now when I tell Siri to "Remind me about X at 5:30", she will tell me "Your reminder is set for this afternoon" but she won't repeat what the reminder is or the exact time like she did in iOS 12, so I don't know if she actually understood what I said until I look at my reminders and find ones that say "Chi-ex" or some other random words. I mean seriously, "Chi-ex"?? That's not even a thing.

I’ve still got iphone 6 & I am working on 12.4.2...recently updated. Also noticed the same issue. I would ask for the weather report & my schedule while getting up in the morning and she started telling me to unlock. WHAT the...? Since when?! I have not changed any of the settings!

So, thanks for confirming I’m not crazy! I completely agree with the toggle that should allow access. Frustrating and worthless feature if you can’t just ask without handling the phone. I’ll choose my own level of security for the weather and my schedule, thank you! ...eye rolls...

I'm to the point where when a new update comes out, I have to wonder what feature they will take away next.

I always read the notes on the updates before I install them, but they leave soooo much out. None of the changes we've talked about in this discussion were mentioned in the notes. And I've yet to see them mentioned anywhere since.

I love my Apple products generally, but it's always a one way process with Apple:

a) Apple comes out with an update and tells you all the cool new things they added

b) Apple neglects to tell you all the cool features that they removed

c) You update and slowly notice things that no longer work

d) If it's over 7 days or so, you can't roll back the update

e) Try and ask/tell/communicate in some way to Apple...

f) enjoy the sounds of crickets as they casually ignore you

Not on my phone - had no ability to have Siri read the calendar - or texts. these changes allowed both. wondering if it's some other setting. For now - I have full access to my info when the screen is locked.

To your comment that "this has never been an issue with the last iOS and the present one" - as soon as i got iOS13 - this problem started. So it must be something else. iPhone XR here.

Yeah, some people Siri will call while the phone is locked and others Siri won't. There seems to be no rhyme or reason but there is consistency. I can consistently not call a friend while the phone is locked but I can have siri call my significant other successfully while locked.

Doesn't fix issue. They have bugged Siri and don't know what they did. I can call some people while phone is locked but not others. Same with messages, read some and not others. Your suggestion did not alleviate these issues, though maybe it will for others.

Well, solved that problem...finally upgraded to 11pro. 😆 Now Siri even works without having to be plugged in. So even though I do not have any of the home assistant things ... like Alexa or whatever... I do now! 😏🤷🏻‍♀️

Cheers!

Wife and I both have iPhone 7 - iOS 13.3.1 - hands-free law takes affect this weekend in my state. I have carplay but my wife does not. Tried playing with siri hands-free and it works, but if we want Google anything (Google Maps, Google Assistant, etc) we are immediately prompted with "you'll need to unlock your iphone"

How do we get beyond this obstacle?

No web site has the answer, yet, or is it locked this way from Apple to permit enhanced privacy?

Also, I have my own domain with Google, so wonder how much of an impact that might have?

Thank you.