Siri raise to speak not working

That’s exactly what I had to do to make it work, bring the watch vertical to the ground, works every time now, thanks.

You need to raise your watch and put it close to your mouth.

And if you don't want to put the watch so close to your mouth, you can still say "hey Siri" - but the watch needs one or the other to let it know that you want to activate Siri.

MacRumors has a good article about it -

https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/use-siri-raise-to-speak-watchos-5/

Just picked up my Series 4 today and the “Raise to Speak” feature for at least me works when my arm is at the vertical position along side my body, I then will wake my watch and ask a question once the watch is close to my mouth. I noticed that while I am sitting in my recliner that if I wake my watch, raise it to my mouth and ask a question I get no response because again my arm is not being brought up from the vertical position.

I noticed that you have to have you’re arm very low and when you bring the watch up, put it up towards your mouth and ask your question right away even if Siri doesn’t activate when lifting you’re arm. You also have to speak loudly.

I’ve been meaning to update my post: the raise to speak basically never works when I expect it to no matter what I do with my hands.

To avoid feeling like an idiot every time I start talking to my wrist and nothing happens, I’ve resorted back to hey Siri.

I think this is a hard problem for Apple to solve and they definitely haven’t done so in their first try. I’m sure they figure it out in the next few updates though.

Thanks. I see what you mean. Its really fussy though. Maybe works 1 in 10 times. Seems to work better if I wait for the screen to light up before I speak, then I have to have it really close to the mouth unless I want to shout at it. Great idea, needs some improvement to work reliably. I guess I'll stick with "Hey Siri" for now. One thing I really do like i how loud and clear the audio is on the 4 compared to earlier versions. Thanks for the tips.

I also have problems with the feature "Raise to Speak" on my Apple Watch S4 and watchOS 5.1.1. I can see Siri write down my request and, immediately after, fade away on the watch face without any feedback. Resetting both Apple Watch S4 and the iPhone as new (no backup) does not help. It seems that the problem occurs mostly with the Italian or other languages other than English. At the same time on the watch I have no problem with Siri when called by "Hey Siri" or by pressing the digital crown. It is not possible to have this important feature completely non-functional on a such hi-end device. We have paid entirely and Apple must fix it as soon as possible.

I don't think the watch has a proximity sensor, so it doesn't know if it's close to your mouth or far at arm's length distance. In both cases I see it works the same. Of course you'll have to speak a little louder if it's not close.

My iPhone X and Apple Watch 3 (GPS + Cellular) are paired perfectly on same Wifi network.

Settings on watch have both “Hey Siri” and “Raise to Speak” enabled.

No matter what I do, raising my wrist will not enable Siri, including an attempt at rebooting my watch running on OS5.

I tried to your suggestions but was not able to get it consistently working. Here is a link that gives a visual how it should work. Your mileage may var.

How to Use the Siri Raise to Speak Feature in watchOS 5 - YouTube

doesn't work for me either. think there's a bug. feature should work easily and instinctively like looking at the time. I've tried a million "arm positions' talking to it practically shoving it in my mouth. NOTHING WORKS

FAIL

Thank you for the information with regard to "Theater Mode."

I understand what you're saying about "wake screen" and "wake watch" as well. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple renames the setting at some point either. It makes perfect sense!

none of the comments I've read work...it simply does not respond no matter how you have your arm. you shouldn't have to do this anyway. checked my settings etc. and their all as they should be. It just doesn't respond when you lift your hand...whats wrong with this thing

Raise to talk doesn’t work at all for me, and hey Siri if it works at all usually says wait, I’ll tap you when ready then just hangs. Phone has no problem hearing and responding even when I’m practically eating the watch. Worked fine on my series 2. Now regretting selling it