Siri won't dial calls since updating to iOS 15.4

The issue is that Siri fails to dial calls with non-numerical prefixes such as*82 or *31# and commas ( ,,) such as inserting a pause in a call sequence. This issue arose in iOS and iPadOS 15.4.1. Tech engineers are now aware of the issue and are working on a solution. Since the issue is embedded in the OS code, the solution needs to come as an OS update. Unfortunately, since 15.4.2 is in beta, it looks like the solution will probably not come any sooner than15.4.3. This is the information provided to me by tech support. I was able to get tech support to replicate the Siri call failure on multiple Apple products such as iPhones and iPads. I am merely an Apple customer like you and was fortunate enough to engage with a senior support person who was willing to work through troubleshooting with me to learn what I had discovered. Unfortunately, the only work around for the problem is to go directly to your contact in your contact list and click or touch the phone number with *82 or other non-numerical code in your contact. The call go through as though you manually dialed but will fail when using Siri. I hope this helps.

The supervisor that has kept in contact with me for the last month and a bit re to the problem we all have had with the hands free calling told me she felt the new update had the fix/repair in it and waited for my update to load and be tested. The 15.5 update has fixed/repaired the problem and numbers with a prefix of *82 can be called using Siri or a blue tooth that sakes who you want to call or your car. Thank you to all of you that kept posting the problem as without our insistence this problem would never have been fixed.

I have discovered that calls that fail using Siri have dialing prefixes of *31# or *82 in the contact list. Siri in iOS and iPadOS 15.4 does not like * codes. This is clearly a bug in 15.4.

The supervisor that has kept in contact with me for the last month and a bit re to the problem we all have had with the hands free calling told me she felt the new update had the fix/repair in it and waited for my update to load and be tested. The 15.5 update has fixed/repaired the problem and numbers with a prefix of *82 can be called using Siri or a blue tooth that sakes who you want to call or your car. Thank you to all of you that kept posting the problem as without our insistence this problem would never have been fixed.

The 15.4 update that took away our ability to use Siri/handsfree calling to people that have a *82,*67 etc prefix before the requested person you wish to call was done 3-14-2022. People complained about this problem and then 15.4.1 update was issued with what we were told would have a fix for the problem which it did not. Many have continued to complain about the dangerous consequences that can happen due to apple taking away the prefixes making the hands free unusable, and the lack of a fix as told by the customer service persons. We are now over a month past apple knowing about the problem and them doing nothing about it other than being told take the prefixes off the numbers and Siri works fine. That is not a solution and apple should not tell people what they should do with their personal phone, it is not for apple to dictate how a phone is used by the purchaser. Persons with this problem should be calling apple support on a regular basis and requesting a supervisor assist until their engineers correct the problem. It appears that apple does not care to fix the problem.

Hello perdido34,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities. Since it seems that Siri is having some issues dialing numbers, check your contacts to make sure that numbers are formatted correctly including the country code.

Also, try enabling Dial Assist from Settings > Phone. Check out Make a call on iPhone.

Take care.

I should clarify. I have a weekly phone conference that has the dial-in number, followed by a long id # and then another number. Previously, I could just say “Dial [name of meeting}” and it worked great. After the update, SIRI would say, “Calling [name}” but then would just stop and not do anything else. Today, it said “Calling (800) 555-1234,,123456#,,1” (I have entered fake numbers here) and then stopped and did nothing else. Evidently, whatever they changed, SIRI no longer recognizes this type of number format. If I go to contacts, and tap the number, it dials correctly, so it is a problem with SIRI that requires the use of hands.

It appears that iOS 15.5 resolved this issue. Apple didn’t mention it has a specific bug fix in their release notes but mine is now working

Please read all the posts relating to the prefixes attached to phone numbers and how Siri will not allow hands free calling to such numbers since the 15.4 update in early march 2022. Take note that the apple engineering dept that appears to have removed the ability of the user to make these calls has been saying “we are working on it” since it was first reported right after the update and as yet nothing has been done to correct the problem. Calling for assistance is not helpful as many of the advisors don’t know this is a known thing that is not helped with their advise and continue to make the user jump thru all sorts of hoops and get nowhere or tell the person to take the prefixes off the numbers and Siri works fine. Some of us have the prefix on our phone numbers for a particular reason and do not want to remove the prefix. It is not a problem with Siri it is a problem with Apple

15.5 works

Perdido34,

Thank you for those details.

Even though this is a simple step, let's restart your iPhone. This can help with issues like this:

How to restart your iPhone X, 11, 12, or 13

1. Press and hold either volume button and the side button until the power-off slider appears.


2. Drag the slider, then wait 30 seconds for your device to turn off. If your device is frozen or unresponsive, force restart your device.

3. To turn your device back on, press and hold the side button (on the right side of your iPhone) until you see the Apple logo.

More details can be found here: Restart your iPhone

If the issue persists, can you try other Siri commands to see if they work as expected? Do you know if this happens on cellular data, Wi-Fi, or both? Also, does the issue persists if you hold down the side button for Siri instead of saying Hey Siri?

Let us know how it goes.

Cheers!

perdido34,

Thanks for the update. For continued investigation on this, let's have you contact Apple Support directly: Get Support

Best regards.