Using Siri to add reminders in iOS 26 [Solved]

Software
1

Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere. Feel free to direct me and we can delete this post.
I’m in my living room and remember I need to check something later in the day. My phone is on the coffee table. I thought it would be a simple task of saying “Hey Siri, remind me to tell my wife I love her at 5pm today.”
Also happens in the car. I don’t have Apple CarPlay as Elon doesn’t allow it in his Teslas.

But I need to unlock my iPhone first.

I have “Allow Siri When Locked” checked under Apple Intelligence & Siri.
And I have Siri checked under Face ID and Passcode settings.

What have I missed? Any help, or even confirmation it can’t work would be helpful.

Cheers

2

Have you checked whether the setting Listen for “Hey Siri” is switched on?

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3

It should work when locked. I use it often and most times it is when the phone is sitting on a table.

Siri or Hey Siri on
Allow Siri when locked on

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4

Thanks guys. Yep, listen for Siri is on. I may take to an Apple store and they’ll show me something obvious I’ve missed most likely.
Sounds like it is supposed to work though, so that’s good.

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5

Let us know if Apple can help. Every time I’m driving and Siri tells me “You have to unlock your iPhone first” I feel like throwing it out the window.

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6

This is a wild guess but I’m wondering if it has something to do with Focus mode? I have it set that text messages won’t be shown while I’m driving.

7

That is very odd. I use this feature constantly, on my phone and Apple Watch, and have never been asked to unlock it

Did it work while on iOS 18?

Do you have any special block settings? Or did you modify anything?

8

Try disabling it. Restart. Turn back on

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9

When I looked at the Driving Focus mode I didn’t notice anything but then deleted that focus mode to see if that was the issue. Seems not.

To be honest, I probably did modify something to get it to work, but didn’t think I’d need to record those steps to retrace them. I certainly should have.

And, no, tried that and no dice.

Off to the Apple Store we go!

Thanks everyone. If Apple can fix it I’ll report back

10

Do you have a device profile from your work installed? Our old system didn’t permit siri when locked. i’d get the same message you’re getting. That restriction was lifted and removed from the policy and now it works fine.

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11

Quick update.

The solution was to go to Settings → General → Reset → Reset All Settings.

This wiped all personal settings but not the phone entirely, that was the next option.

All working as I’d hoped.

It’s a small thing but frustrating if it was supposed to work.

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12

Thanks for update Oscar. Interesting to hear that’s what solved it.

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