Siri is not selecting the most applicable contact for handsfree talk and text

Hey @Crazycat80 -

How certain are you that the source of these issues originate with Siri? If you haven’t already, I think it would be worth evaluating whether your Contacts app could be the root cause.

A few months ago (circa iOS 26.1, maybe?) many users (including myself) were impacted by a software bug that compromised the integrity of some of the data in our contacts. While contact deletion and re-categorization of contacts to blocked status were the most common outcomes described in online forums, I noticed a variety of additional database errors and corruption to settings.

It seems quite feasible to me that analogous error types, when propagated to a handsfree talk/text use case, may account for the outcomes you described in your examples.

For example, I also have a parental unit combo contact and it sustained a fairly impressive quantity and variety of data errors. One was a ‘reassignment’ of which phone number would be dialed by default. If something similar happened within your contact data, it could explain why executing a call to that contact dials your mom now instead of your dad. And if you don’t have a separate contact for your dad, why calling ‘dad last name’ results in Siri making guesses at other family members.

I had to re-create the contact in order to resolve all the issues, so I think easiest way to test this hypothesis in your case would be, initially, just to create a new, pared-down version. You could start by just adding your dad’s # and you probably want to call it smthg different like ‘dad & mom last name’ to distinguish it from the original. If you’re able to successfully hands-free dial this new contact, then try adding some additional information to up the complexity and test it again.

Lmk if this happens to work. (Maybe then we can try brainstorming how to teach Siri to differentiate between the Jenns. 😉)

Crazycat80 wrote: "...This worked prior to the v26 update." ... "Before the last major update..."

Crazycat80 ~ Your iPhone 11 could be >6 years old and the long process of applying a major iOS update to an iPhone with a weak, aging battery can be the proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back."

The microphone and voice‑processing chips need a steady, full-power supply from the battery; if they don’t receive it, you can see various unexpected behaviors like the ones you’re experiencing. So...

Does your iPhone 11 still have its original battery?

And what's the Maximum Capacity % here?...

Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging

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