Siri requires iPhone unlock for tasks previously allowed when locked after iOS 27 update

Siri AI definitely has stricter security settings then Siri Classic does - so unfortunately the only way to revert to the earlier behavior is to switch back to Siri Classic (at least for the moment, I expect to see refinements in future updates).

Short of going back to Siri Classic, you may be able to have some success by altering what you ask for a little bit. The new security requirements seem to be focused on existing items, but asking for new items continue to work. For example:

• "Siri, add milk to my grocery list" (works immediately in Classic Siri, asks for phone to be unlocked with Siri AI)
• "Siri, remind me to buy milk" (works in all versions of Siri, no need to unlock)
• "Siri, change my meeting alarm to 3:00 pm" (works immediately with Classic, requires unlock with AI)
• "Siri, set a 3:00 pm meeting alarm" (works in all versions, no need to unlock)

The big drawback is that you may end up with reminders on the wrong list, or multiple alarms with the same name - but at least you get something.

What I find most frustrating about the change in this behavior happens when using Siri hands-free. For instance, with my iphone in my pocket while wearing AirPods, saying "Siri, add milk to my grocery list" will cause the phone to attempt to unlock, face id fails, and a dialog box is put on the screen - as long as this stays on screen, Siri is unresponsive, and it becomes impossible to use the phone hands-free for several minutes (or until you pick up the phone and tap the dialog)

Odysseus42 wrote:

• Ever since I upgraded to iOS 27, my iPhone requires that I unlock it now to complete tasks that didn't require it before. If it is through Siri, I get "You'll need to unlock your iPhone first." These are tasks that haven't required that I unlock my phone for years until now. What's truly maddening is that some tasks are denied intermittently. Siri will some times not require I unlock my iPhone and other times it does

Here are some items, most of them happen intermittently

BMW Apple Car Key UWB

• Wireless CarPlay, asking Siri to open an app

• Deleting alarms via Siri

• Adjusting HomeKit lights via Siri

• Adding a reminder (like a grocery item to my grocery list) via Siri. This seems to pretty consistently deny my requests now

And yes, I already checked that Siri is enabled under "Allowed Access When Locked." These tasks never required my phone to be unlocked before. And for most of them, sometimes Siri will do the task while my phone is locked and sometimes it won't.

This is driving me crazy. Anything else I can try, or do I have to wait until Apple releases an update to fix this?

I have an iPhone 15 Pro

Siri works just fine for me when my iPhone is locked on iOS 27. Often a simple Force Restart fixes odd little things --> Force restart iPhone - Apple Support

The 27.2 update fixes many of these issues. I haven't tested everything, but I can once again add items to an existing list, change the time of an existing alarm, and turn an existing alarm back on without unlocking the phone.

Odysseus42 wrote:

I had already rebooted my iPhone. I just tried rebooting it again, and it didn't fix the problem

Rebooting is not the same as a Force Restart by following the instructions in the provided link. Make sure on that last step that you are holding the Side button until the Apple logo appears. This may take up to 15 before you see the Apple logo and you have to ignore anything else on the screen, including the prompt to Slide to Power Off. Many users will see that and think they are doing the Force Restart, but they are not.

Odysseus42 wrote:

I just tried that and force restart did not make a difference either. Have you tried adding an item to your reminder list or deleting an alarm using Siri from the lock screen? Does it work for you?

For me, adding anything to the Reminders app when the phone is locked is only possible when connected to AirPods or CarPlay. Just like viewing contacts, reading messages, asking about Calendar events is not possible on a locked phone (and wasn't for me before either), the Reminders app appears to be included with this personal information that is not accessible on a locked phone, without the hands free usage of a connected device.

I would agree that access to the alarm app would not be something I would consider to be personal information, but you could certainly prank a person by having Siri delete all alarms from a device without the owner of the device knowing and they fail to wake up on time. I could also see where adding an item to the Reminders app would not reveal personal information, but you may not appreciate someone else being able to hear those reminders using Siri without authentication.

In any case, you can always send Feedback to Apple here:

Feedback - iPhone - Apple

When the iPhone is locked Siri will not open any app that contains personal information, such as contacts, deleting alarms, accessing Homekit, adding anything to Notes, etc. It has always worked that way, this is not a change. Siri can only access apps that do not contain personal data.

It is to prevent someone finding your phone to say something like “Hey Siri list my contacts"

Then turn Siri AI off, and turn it back on where you will be given the option to use Classic Siri and see if that works for you. Otherwise, use the link I provided to send Feedback to Apple.

Personally for me, I would not want someone to be able to delete my alarms by telling Siri to do that. No iPhone offers Voice Recognition to identify a user for authentication, so that means anyone would be able to do that. If that was intermittently allowed now, I would consider that a bug and prefer that it was not possible, and likely send my own feedback.

The amount of time after a period where you are not looking at the screen before it is locked is adjustable. I think the default time is 30 seconds, but you can change it to Never and rely on manually locking to see if that makes a difference for you. That may be what you are experiencing with it being intermittent where the device has not locked yet.

Odysseus42 wrote:

This is new behavior under iOS 27 and it is not how it has worked for years prior. I've always been able to add reminders and modify my alarms before iOS 27, and not to mention the other list of items I provided that only now work intermittently when they used to work consistently.

That’s very strange, because my iPhones have always worked that way.

The last thing I would want is for Siri to access an app with my personal data while the iPhone was locked.

I'm having the same issue with iOS 27.0.1, as others have noted in this thread. I did try using Siri AI to add an item to my groceries list on my MacBook running Golden Gate, MacBook OS 27, and Siri AI added the item without requiring an unlock. So the behavior in iOS 27, might be a regression/bug.