Caller Announce isn't working with EarPods (headphones only option)

Question

Level 1

15 points

Caller Announce isn't working with EarPods (headphones only option)

I have enabled the caller announce feature in my iPhone 7 plus currently on 10.2.1.

When the feature is set to always it is working fine. When it is set to headphones only (EarPods included with my iPhone) then caller announce is not working. I am referring to contacts found on my iPhone.

The strange thing is that when I originally switched the feature on it worked for a few days and then all of the sudden it stopped. At the time my iPhone was on ios 10.2.

does anyone have any idea why is this happening? do I need to modify another setting?

Message was edited by: ckv_1860

iPhone 7 Plus, iOS 10.2.1, null

Posted on Jan 25, 2017 3:07 PM

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Answer 1

raina_b22

Community Specialist

Jan 26, 2017 9:10 AM in response to ckv_1860

Greetings ckv_1860,

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.

I see that you are having an issue with the Siri calls announced feature when using your EarPods. When the feature is set to always it is working fine but when it's set to headphones only it isn't working.

It appears that the Phone app may not be responding like it should for this feature. As a test, I suggest force closing the Phone app and restarting your iPhone:

Force an app to close on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
Restart your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Once you've done both, see if you get the same result when set to headphones only.

Cheers.

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Answer 2

jeremy_v

Community Specialist

Feb 6, 2017 6:11 AM in response to ckv_1860

Hi ckv_1860,

Thank you for trying those steps.

Since you are still having an issue, we would like you to try a reinstall of the iOS software on your iPhone 7 Plus.

First, use this article to make sure that you have a backup of your important data: How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch .

Then, use this article to reinstall iOS: If you can‘t update or restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

Note: This article is intended to be for a different issue but following steps 1-5 will help you reinstall iOS on your iPhone 7 Plus without erasing data.

Let us know if this helps.

All the best.

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Answer 3

ckv_1860 Author

Level 1

15 points

Jan 31, 2017 10:50 AM in response to raina_b22

Dear Becky.

Thank you for you answer. I am not sure if it is a Siri function however the caller announce feature is working erratically on my phone.

The steps you have suggested do not resolve the issue.

Upon further testing caller announce works without a problem when I am already engaged in a phone call - while I am in the middle of a call if a third person tries to call me then I will hear his/her name announced over my EarPods.

Now, when the iPhone is in standby and I receive a new phone call sometimes the caller announce feature will work and sometimes it will not. I haven't observed any relation between who is calling and whether caller announce will work or not.

I believe it is software related especially since I use the lightning version of the EarPods. It is a feature I need to work consistently and so far the experience has been far from satisfactory.

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Answer 4

ckv_1860 Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 7, 2017 3:47 PM in response to jeremy_v

Hi, thank you for your answer.

I have tried the steps you mentioned without success.

However I made a new discovery - if my phone is on silent mode then the caller announce feature works every time! If I turn it back to normal mode it stops working again! I have switched between silent & normal modes several times and the same thing happened over and over again.

So to summarize my situation:

if I have the phone set to silent mode caller announce works fine every time. When it is on normal mode then most of the time it doesn't work - sometimes it will work for one or two calls and then it breaks down again. However when I am in the middle of a conversation and I receive another call then I get an announcement of the second caller's name!

Looking at the board I came across another thread titled "announcing calls" under "using iPhone" with the first post sent at Sep 2016 and the last post on Dec 25th 2016 where multiple users report exactly the same behavior!

There must be some sort of setting or software bug that needs to be corrected!

It is very important that I get this fixed - it is a very useful feature for me!

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