Siri interrupts me / "cuts me off"

Question

colllin Author

Level 1

16 points

Siri interrupts me / "cuts me off"

I use Siri for a lot of things. In rough order of magnitude:

- Creating reminders

- Setting alarms

- Setting timers

- Sending text messages

- Checking the weather

- Playing music

- Creating calendar events

- Sending money

- Getting a ride

I think I use Siri more than most people I know. But I have had a problem for a few years now where Siri interrupts me mid-sentence. Right now, I'll try to ask Siri to create a reminder named "Go to the park" scheduled for Thursday at 3pm, and document the exchange:

First attempt (tested just now):

Me: "Hey Siri"

Siri: "Beep Boop."

Me: "Remind me to go to the park on Thurs—"

Siri: "Boop Beep. Ok, I added Go to the park to your reminders for Thursday at 9 AM:"

Me: "—day at 3pm"

Second attempt (tested just now):

Me: "Hey Siri"

Siri: "Beep Boop."

Me: "Remind me to go to the park on—"

Siri: "Boop Beep. Ok, I added Go to the park on to your reminders:" (shows reminder "Go to the park on" with no date/time!)

Me: "—Thursday at 3pm"

I am speaking a relatively short command, and my speech is not especially slow or broken (that I can tell). This was even a pre-meditated command. I bet that my commands more commonly are more slow and/or broken, because I typically think through it as I speak it, but even this little experiment failed over and over and over just now.

I think this most commonly occurs when I create reminders and send text messages. If there's any limit to how long I can speak, I'm almost certainly not hitting it.

I can't describe how agonizing this bug is. Why in the world would someone design Siri to intelligently guess when I'm done speaking, at the risk of cutting me off? Just give me a few seconds after I stop talking! Then you could even use this time to fetch the answer and have it ready immediately.

This has happened to me across several iPhones and years now, so I don't think it's as simple as cleaning the microphone or downloading an update. It appears to be a software defect.

iPhone X, iOS 11.2.2

Posted on Jan 8, 2018 3:57 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Jay-Ray

Level 4

3,744 points

Jan 9, 2018 7:55 AM in response to colllin

I have this problem too from time to time. It seems like if there is any little inflection, Siri analyzes what is there already and sees if she can go ahead and figure out what you want. I try to keep is short now like instead of saying "Text [Name] Do you want to hang out?", I'll say "Send a text", then answer her question about who, then give her the message when she asks. The other options is holding down the button for the entire time. I do this when it's going to be a longer message. Just hold down the button continuously until you are done talking. When you let go, Siri will then analyze what you said. I know this isn't a great solution, but know it's not just you.

Reply

Answer 2

Hessell

Level 1

4 points

Feb 10, 2018 5:43 PM in response to colllin

Siri cuts me off all the time. And I don't know if this is a bug but it severely aggravates an already underwhelming virtual assistant experience. I've been a big fan of Apple (exclusively use their products) for a long time and root for them. But I'm worried about how far behind they are in this specific territory -- which in my opinion is the key to future success. I'm about to buy a Google Home over the Homepod and I'm only struggling with the decision because of my love for Apple. I hope they invest like they should in both the conversation/voice UI aspect and the ability of Siri to actually answer questions. Lots of cash on hand, seems like a great time to catch up with Google in this department before they get too far ahead. Hope they do. No one designs better products than Apple.

Reply