Voice control problem over bluetooth

I feel your pain😟

I have submitted multiple bug reports to Apple, upgraded my Plantronics headset to their 5200 Series, and updated the firmware on the headset, all to no avail. This looks to be an issue with iOS firmware; I've seen mention of it in several threads and forums outside of Apple. I have an appointment with a Genius this week in Chicago and I'm hoping they can provide some answers. Siri is fine for voice dialing but, depending upon your WiFi or cellular connection, it can be very laggy. That's why I prefer classic voice control.

Here's a summary of my issue and the steps I've taken. Any of this sound familiar?😉

I have the same problem on iPhone SE after iOS11 update. Now v3 and it's still the same. Voice control from my Alpine UTE BT-045 in car and Interphone F3MC in my motorcycle helmet works only once-twice from restarting my phone and i noticed it's using microphone in phone - not in BT device when i'm talking to it. And after I said "call to..." it's not using bt device speaker to say "calling to..." - it says it through phone speaker while same call is working via bt device. After 1-2 times used i need to restart phone, cause then it makes 2 beeps after voice commanded and does nothing! Dear Apple! Using my bluetooth devices was crutial to me while I was choosing iPhone over Android devices so please make it work quick!!

I have an SE (11.0.3). The voice control works without BT device as it originally, although, having voice control set to respond in different language in iOS10, I had to redo this anew in 11, as it totally changed the previously programmed settings. But going back to the original issue: the voice command has stopped to work via BT, although the speaker and the mic work.

So far the workaround is to dial manually from the contact list (not very convenient when driving) and then the call routed to the BT device.

Apple, apparently, has no clue how to resolve this bug, so they are concentrating on new emojis instead, while their tech. support "specialists" pretend that they hear about this issue for the first time.

The key for anyone posting in this thread is to contact the device manufacturer and find out when/if they will be releasing a firmware update to be compatible with iOS 11. Just because you have the latest firmware doesn't mean you have a version that is compatible with iOS 11 and has been tested. And no, this is not just an Apple/iOS issue. If you search Android forums the exact same thing happens on updates for Android devices as well. The exact same instructions are reiterated there in that you must contact the device manufacturer. Very rarely will an update to iOS or Android's OS will fix these type of issues. It's up to the device manufacturer.

I just installed 11.1 on my 6S Plus and tried to see if the bug has been fixed, but to no avail. The problem persists. I really wonder when Apple will decide to address the issue, which has crippled one of the most important functions, especially when driving.

Most of the Bluetooth devices I've tried with, have never in the past had firmware updates, and still Voice Control worked perfectly with all iOS versions before 11. This suggests that it is solely an iOS bug. It does not even work with cars equipped with Apple CarPlay, as another user mentioned, and ultimately it does not work with my Powerbeats Wireless 3, which is an Apple product.

Wish I had better news. After sending diagnostic logs to Apple engineers on 10/5 - crickets. Called on 10/10 to find out the engineers had not responded yet. Chat on 10/15 with another Sr. Advisor resulted in another round of troubleshooting to determine that the BT interface does indeed work when using Siri, but not with classic voice control and reconfirmed that wife's iPhone 6 still running 10.3.3 works fine with classic voice control. Since original post, updated to iOS 11.0.3 and problem still exists. Updated data sent to engineers - more crickets. Chat on 10/18 indicated still no reply received from engineers. Chat/call-back on 10/24 with yet another Sr. Advisor who "took ownership" of the problem resulted in a third round of troubleshooting to ensure I didn't have anything corrupted in my apps or the update. Restored phone to fresh out of the box condition and for one more time, replicated the problem with classic voice control not working. Sent data off to engineering again with status due not later than 10/31. As of 10/31, still no response received from three rounds of troubleshooting data and conversations with no less than five Sr. Advisors. Cite case #100314789679 to see if that helps. Bottom line: iOS 11 seems to be the culprit, NOT forcing every BT device vendor to update their firmware to be "compatible with iOS 11". The BT standard did not change, only something in Apple's implementation.

Sorry but telling Bluetooth manufacturers to get their devices to work with iOS 11 is no different than telling the thousands upon thousands of developers to make sure their app is compatible with the iPhone X. And if you think this is just an Apple problem read through Android forums and you’ll see the exact same issue. With Android updates years there have been posts of Bluetooth devices no longer working. Aside from the basics of unpair, re-pair, restart, etc. they say to check with the device manufacturer for firmware updates. There have been vehicle manufacturers that have already acknowledged the issue and and working on updates.

"Sorry but telling Bluetooth manufacturers to get their devices to work with iOS 11 is no different than telling the thousands upon thousands of developers to make sure their app is compatible with the iPhone X."

Sorry; and that explains the multiples of Bluetooth headsets that worked on a 6 & 6+, running iOS 11.0, 11.1, and all the subsequent betas how exactly?

Depends on how their Bluetooth device was programmed initially. Some manufacturers already admit that they need to update their firmware to be compatible with iOS 11. Read through threads regarding these issues and you’ll see that those that have released firmware updates for their customers have fixed the problems their customers have seen. Just because one device didn’t need an update doesn’t mean that others don’t.

There is a thread where Renault vehicles stopped working/connecting to Bluetooth after installing iOS 11. After they updated the firmware the devices started working and connecting properly. There were a couple of other vehicle manufacturers that said they were working on fixes as well. My Honda works with voice control on iOS 11 and it didn’t need an update. It’s a 2016.

The manual says voice control but to be honest I’m not 100% sure. There are no problems connecting via Bluetooth or dock connector. I can answer calls, place calls using voice, I can play music, skip tracks, etc. I went from 10.3.3 to 11.0, 11.0.1, 11.0.2, 11.0.3 and today I installed 11.1. Never jailbroken.

I tried to turn off Siri but when I press the home button it just gives me the option to enable Siri. Therefore it may be Siri. Are there any disadvantages to using Siri where someone would be using Voice Control instead? I can seem to enable voice control on my iPhone 7

Thanks for checking that!

As you can see, is not a question of firmware updates, but iOS bad developed.

The worst of all, is Apple’s engineers seems that they’re not caring about this issue as they should. At least someone from Apple assumes the error of development and giving us a probable date to fix this broken hands-free feature from our iPhones.

Good news, the engineers at Apple know the difference between Voice Control and Siri 😉

And to reiterate, Siri is only as good as your cellular or internet connection. THAT'S why classic Voice Control is important. As of today, I haven't heard back from anyone at Apple re: the sysdiagnose files I uploaded through their bug reporting site. I just downloaded 11.2 b1 and will report soon if anythings changed. Likewise, any beta testers out there experiencing the same issues?