A minimum of 5 time the Siri app stopped being able to connect. Restarting was the only recourse.

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A minimum of 5 time the Siri app stopped being able to connect. Restarting was the only recourse.

I have had several instances (a minimum of 5) where the Siri app on macOS has been "unable to connect".

I have been trying to use Siri when I can and it has been doing a good job, until it stops working telling me it can't connect. Trying to figure out why has been a bit more demanding.

The Siri app intermittently stops being able to complete requests. Once it starts, every

request fails ("connection failed") until the Mac is rebooted. Restarting the Siri app,

restarting Siri background processes, and toggling Siri off/on in System Settings do not

fix it. This has happened at least three times.

Environment:

- Mac: M5 Max Macbook Pro with 64 GB RAM

- macOS: build 26A434 27.0.1

- Network: Ethernet (primary) using Express VPN. WiFi also available as Apple desires this as well for some connections to wireless devices.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE:

1. Use the Siri app normally for some time (hours/days since boot).

2. At some point, requests begin failing.

3. Open a NEW chat in the Siri app and ask a question that needs the online service

(e.g. "Summarize the causes of the 1929 stock market crash in three sentences").

EXPECTED: Siri answers.

ACTUAL: Request fails. Simple on-device requests ("What time is it?") still work.

TROUBLESHOOTING ALREADY DONE (none fixed it; reboot does):

- Quit/relaunched the Siri app (Cmd-Q and killall "Siri AI"; confirmed new PID)

- killall siriinferenced siriactionsd siriappintentsd siriknowledged intelligencecontextd

- Turned Siri off and back on in System Settings > Siri

- Started a fresh chat instead of an existing one

- Quit third-party menu bar utilities (Bartender 7)

- Tested with ExpressVPN off and on (relaunching the Siri app each time): no change

LOG OBSERVATIONS (from `log show`):

2026-10-25 (current failure):

- On every request, assistantd logs:

+[ADRequestLifecycleObserver _companionServiceCompletionHandler]_block_invoke

Error Domain=kAFAssistantErrorDomain Code=1000

followed by SRUIFSiriSessionEventRequestFailed in Siri AI.

- Siri AI also logs:

-[AFSiriClientStateManager beginTransactionForReason:] Not begining transaction for reason: connectionFailed

-[CampoUISiriChatSession _connection] The AFConnection for this session has been invalidated.

- sirinetwork shows the connection itself succeeding (TLS enabled, NetworkActivity

"SiriNetworkActivitySucceeded"), so this does not appear to be a local network problem.

- Opening older chats logs ~34 failures:

[ASKStore] decodeMessage not available ... VersionedTranscriptError deserializationFailed("Event")

... BinaryDecodingError.invalidUTF8

(stored chat history appears corrupted; failure also occurs in a brand-new chat).

- Toggling Siri off logged:

-[ADCommandCenter _destroyActiveAccount] Error disabling fides: Error Domain=kAFAssistantErrorDomain Code=13

2026-10-24 ~21:35-22:01 (earlier failure, fixed by reboot):

- Siri AI logged ~1,070 instances of:

-[CampoUISiriChatPresentationController siriSessionDidReceiveAddViewsCommand:completion:]

Received an empty SAUIAssistantUtteranceView with no dialog

i.e. the service returned empty responses to every request.

I attached sysdiagnose files and some logs when I submitted feedback

Wondering if anyone else has seen this.

MacBook Pro (M5 Max, 2026)

Posted on Oct 29, 2026 7:10 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

neuroanatomist

Level 9

71,631 points

Oct 29, 2026 7:34 PM in response to AgingKeeper

AgingKeeper wrote:

- Network: Ethernet (primary) using Express VPN.

The root cause of this persistent "unable to connect" error is a routing conflict between ExpressVPN and the network configuration framework in macOS 27.

When you connect via Ethernet while ExpressVPN is active —especially with Wi-Fi enabled simultaneously— macOS handles encrypted packets through network extension helpers. Over time, or following small drops in connectivity, the helper processes responsible for the VPN tunnel drop or misroute Apple's iCloud/Siri API traffic. Toggling Siri doesn't work because the underlying routing tables are fundamentally locked up until a hard reboot.

3rd party ‘protection’ software includes:

Cleaners (software claiming to automatically free up space)
Optimizers (software claiming to make your Mac run faster)
Antivirus software
VPN software (unless provided by a school/employer to enable access to internal resources from a remote location)

Such 3rd party system ‘helpers’, ‘cleaners’ and ‘protectors’ do more harm than good. In fact, such products are completely unnecessary for macOS and the only ‘good’ (if you want to call it that) they do is to put money in the developers’ pockets. Cleaners and protectors cause compatibility issues, often after macOS updates. Commercial VPNs claim to hide your browsing activity from websites, and while that may be true those VPN providers just sell your browsing data to others.

For the user, all of these types of software offer only harm…and if that is limited to harm to your bank account, then count yourself lucky. If you have installed such software, follow the developer’s instructions to completely uninstall it (note that some developers fail to provide instructions and their software installs can be pervasive, meaning the only way to truly remove it is to erase your Mac, reinstall macOS then restore your user files from a backup).

According to AI (which I trust as far as I can throw in many cases), ExpressVPN contains a setting specifically designed to prevent this behavior by routing Apple's telemetry and core services (like Siri and iCloud) outside the encrypted tunnel.

Open the ExpressVPN app.
Click the Menu icon (three lines) > Preferences.
Go to the General tab.
Locate and check the box for "Allow Apple Services to bypass the VPN".

If true, perhaps that will solve this particular issue. It won't solve the bigger issue of the VPN not doing what you think it's doing.

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