"Raise to Speak" not working on iPhone 4s

Now I'm thinking that its a problem with the proximity sensor. about half the time there is no change in the screen when I raise the phone to my ear. The other times the screen goes blank but not siri chime until I move it away then it gives the response chime and text statement asking what it can help with. I did a full factory reset last night that didn't solve it. Anyone else having this issue?

I have been able to achieve a 99%+ success rate 🙂 by doing the following:

Start with the 4s flat (screen facing up and a home screen displayed) or elevated no more that 45 degrees in your hand. The lower the elevation, the higher the success rate. If you then move the phone to your ear it works every time.

When I remove the phone from my holster case I now rotate it to the above position range before moving it to my ear. I hope this works for you folks.

My Raise to Activate Siri is not working anymore on my new 4S, either. I put a Gelaskins skin covering on it, but prior to that I had a rubber case on it and it worked fine. Not sure if this is related at all, I doubt it, but it hasn't worked since. I've done all the same things everyone else has, trying to move it in exactly the right way when raising it, turning off Raise to Activate and turning it back on, turning off the device and turning it back on, even went so far as to deactivate Siri and reactivate. Nothing seems to help..... I am glad to know, though, that I am not the only one with this issue. I hope there is a fix in the works. I love the feature, though, and just want it to work as designed. Not that it's THAT hard to just hold the home button down to get it to activate....

Did you try the hard reset I described not just off and on?

Ok so I finally figured it out!! I put on a Gelaskin that has stickers on the face of iPhone and I hadn't removed the little piece that covered the proximity sensor!!! Removed that little tiny piece and now Siri Raise to Activate works fine! Yay!!!!! :)

I couldn't agree more. Same exact thing happening to my white Verizon 32gb. It's random and sporadic. Quite frustrating.

I dropped by a Verizon store and asked for help on the issue...... big waste of time! First tech said ' I don't know anything about that function" ... Really, and you sell these phones ? So after she played with the phone for a few minutes she took it to ask another tech. He didn't know any more about them than the first tech... So to make a much longer story short, his conclusion was you have to take it to Apple.

So at the Apple store, I explanded the issue (intermittent functioning of the raise to speak) the Tech reset the phone and it worked. That is for the first 3 attempts. At the fourth attempt while he was explaining that some times some setting will wack it out, it wacked out. He then said " I'll get you a new one". He did and problem solved, at least 99% of the time. Since I've had the new one (about 3 days now) its only failed a couple times. I maunally push the siri function and the next attempt it works. The Apple Tech did say that it the same problem happend to the new phone it would more than likley mean there is a software problem. I'm guessing thats the case.

Raising from the chest to ear does work nearly 90% of the time. Thanks for ending the frustration!

I have tried all of the suggested voodoo with how to hold it, how to raise it, how to hold my hand, my head, my ear, click my heels three times, etc. Not a single one of these made it any better. For me this is a totally random and unpredictable problem. I love my 4s. First iPhone ever for me, but I swear it's frustrating because I never know when it will work. I almost prefer it to be totally broken than an intermittent problem. I have a white 32gb 4s. My wife has a white 16gb 4s and rarely has this problem. I estimate it doesn't work 60-75% of the time.

If it is not working for you, then you are doing it wrong.

I do think it is a wee bit glitchy, but I have also discovered, that sensor is probably really sensative and if you get any smudgy on the screen protector it throws it off. If I wipe that ahead of time, it picks up every time. For instance, at the Apple store, but the time you tried it 4 times, there might have been a little stuff on it by then. Or, that is probably at least one part of it being touchy. I don't have to much trouble with it now.

I had the funniest Siri moment today. I was setting up a reminder and she said "You can set a reminder to happen when you arrive or leave somewhere like work" and I said "OK, set reminder for November 14 when I arrive at work". She says, "I do not know that. In fact, I don't know anything about you." I about peed my pants. Then she went on to tell me how to go to the settings and attach my contact info. But that was just hilarious. "In fact, I don't know anything about you.". LOL!! I love using Siri.

Maybe you have connected a bluetooth headset. It doesn't work then.

I turned bluetooth off, and "Raise to Speak" worked every time.

Psicom, You are a genius. I wrote this feature off but with your method, "raise to speak" on my iPhone 4S now works 95% of the time. Thank you sir.

I too have been searching for a solution to this.... However after some testing I found that it was all about the "speed" that you move the phone. If I quickly move the phone up to my ear from any other position it works 100% of the time. I have been using it all the time while walking around now.

Just quickly snap it up to your ear and siri will activate. Previously I was always using a slow movement thinking that I needed to give the sensor time to activate or something but this is wrong. Just move the phone quickly and sharply and I've found it to work every time. ;-)

This is the only suggestion that worked for me. I was raising it too slowly and with a very quick motion, my success rate has gone from maybe 20% to 100%.