What iMacs are capable of Voice Control using Catalina?
I have a late 2012 iMac running Catalina, but Voice Control will not enable. I check the box, but after a few seconds it just spontaneously unchecks, with no error message.
Is my iMac too old for Voice Control? Is there another explanation?
Solved it just now. It took a call to Apple, and I wanted to share the not-obvious-to-me solution. Something inside my longstanding Admin account was blocking the required Voice Command package download from completing successfully. Nuking and re-creating my Admin account seems to have fully resolved the issue.
Cheers! Stay safe and healthy...now with Accessible Social Distancing!
=== informal notes ===
Same problem here. Trying out Advanced Dictation for the first time...huh! Replaced by Voice Control with Catalina.
OK, no troubles. Enable Voice Control > the checkbox in system preferences spontaneously unchecks after a few seconds. Same message as quoted above logged in /var/log/system.log:
Apr 4 11:40:56 <My>-MacBook-Pro assistantd[2118]: rootless_convert_to_datavault: rootless_set_storage_class(/Users/<myuser>/Library/Caches/VoiceTrigger/SATUpload): Operation not permitted
I added user+group+other Write permission to this folder. No luck.
Removed (renamed) ~/Library/Caches, so whatever cache is the problem would start fresh. ALSO no luck.
Rebooted in Safe Mode. (I'm not sure how this would help...whatever Safe Mode is, it also didn't help.)
Called Apple Support. Their wait times are REALLY LONG right now. (Like 45 minutes. There are a HUGE number of people who are trying to work from home...including a TON of MDs seeing patients with a telemedicine visit for the first time ever. I get it! Thanks Apple for providing and supporting this life-saving technology!!) I persisted on hold and got a helpful human tech.
Here's the steps which worked for my 2016-vintage MacBook Pro:
I have exactly the same problem. Just downloaded Catalina to my 2018 iMac and cannot get Voice Control to download. When I try, a box opens asking for my password, and it recognizes it, but there is no download and the checkbox goes empty.
This can repeat endlessly. Anybody know the answer to this?
I also have the same problem. It is very annoying since i really need this feature.
Tried to follow the steps above but newly created admin account also has the problem.
I have not deleted my original account, though, i am not sure if this is important.
I could not understand this step when i need to delete my original account: "!!! BE SURE TO not change the Home folder. "
Has anybody found the above solution working as well?
@Isymayell This is super helpful but I also am unclear on how to not change the Home folder, so I'm worried about deleting the existing Admin account. Could you clarify?
Thank you for your detailed instructions!
I agree with mishagreen1 that the outlined solution is not ideal at all and the case needs a better solution, but i am quite doubtful we will get it looking at the thread activity. How can we pursue this?
About the outlined solution, i am not sure if everybody's problem will respond to it. One question i still have is that, without deleting my main account, if i have the same problem also in the newly created account (which i have), does this mean this method does not work for me? I also do not see the error log in the stated solution in /var/log/system.log.
So i am hesitant to follow the rest of the steps if it is not going to help me in the end.
Any other experiences?
Tried Isymayell his method. Worked like a charme, took 5 minutes. And I know nothing about computers.
Since I had the same doubts about the home folder, I first practised by not just adding 1 but 2 admin accounts. Then I tried between those two until I had seen all of the process myself, very straightforward. Gave me the courage to do it with my existing original account too.
Add on; to find the users created (i'm not a computer expert); Finder-Go to- Computer- Users...!
Really easy!
Thanks I had this problem for months!
(MacBookPro early 2013)
Are you referring to Siri when you describe "Voice Control" or are you thinking of something else????
I am talking about the new Voice Control feature of Catalina on the Mac. It is different from Siri, though it may overlap -- I am not sure.
Ahhh, my apologies, please follow Kappy's instructions.
I have d_jefferson's problem on a 2017 iMac. I never see a mic icon appear when I check the "Enable Voice Control" button. The button then just unchecks itself moments later.
I have this problem too. Late 2012 iMac. Has anyone found the solution to this? d_jefferson, did you call Apple Support?
I'm having this same problem, has anyone gotten any solution to the issue yet? Late 2013 27" imac
Sorry, my version is 10.15.2. Not sure how the above came about.
I have a 2017 iMac.
Yes, I imagine that the download is a temporary message until it downloads.
I do have Sophos. That's a good suggestion. Thanks. I'll look into it.
When you go to System Preferences / Accessibility / Voice Control and check the "Enable Voice Control" box, you are supposed to see it download as per Apple's own documentation that, "your Mac completes a one-time download from Apple." My download never begins. Nothing happens in fact and the box simply unchecks itself.
Cannot enable Voice Control in Catalina. Is my iMac too old?
