Siri won’t turn on flashlight.

Works here.

You can also enable voice assistant access to permit this, or can use a voice assistant shortcut for a custom phrase and bypass Siri entirely.

Ensure: Settings > Face ID & password > Allow Siri, and then Hey Siri, turn on the flashlight

Settings > Accessibility > Vocal Shortcuts > record your own custom local trigger, and select Flashlight as the action

Only reason I can think of that this might be blocked is because the iPhone hasn’t been unlocked in a while.

A previous discussion with some possibilities: Siri won’t turn on my iPhone 16 flashligh… - Apple Community

I have (again) tested with a local iPhone 15 Pro Max running iOS 18 (iOS 18 for app testing) and (with screen dimmed, thumb over the dynamic island, lock screen Sir access enabled) it triggers the torch just fine.

Alternatively, most any gadget vendor will have outage-triggered lighting: https://www.amazon.com/power-failure-night-light/s?k=power+failure+night+light

As for “Seriously, Apple. DO BETTER.” This is a user-to-user forum. Apple may or may not read postings around here. Log some feedback: Product Feedback - Apple

If your iPhone is placed face down, saying “Hey Siri, turn on the flashlight” may not work because Siri may not respond. On the other hand, if the iPhone is face up, the flashlight will turn on, but it may not illuminate the room effectively.