“Why Does iPhone & Siri Start Talking Randomly Out of Nowhere? Are Robots Taking Over?”

Dec 5, 2014 - 102 Comments

Is Siri self-aware? The iPhone talks randomly out of nowhere, robots are taking over

A notable number of iPhone users have experienced a truly peculiar happening with their iPhone and Siri after updating to the latest versions of iOS; the iPhone may start talking seemingly out of the blue.

If you’ve experienced this yourself, you know how jarring, weird, funny, and sometimes outright creepy it can be to have our favorite digital assistant start chiming in with various comments or commands apparently activating entirely on their own and unprovoked.

Naturally, the first thought is that Professor Stephen Hawking was prophetically right and that robots are taking over the world starting with our iPhones, right??! Ahhhhhh!

Why is Siri Talking Out of Nowhere? Is My iPhone Crazy?

Well, no actually. So don’t worry, Skynet has not become self aware and your iPhone is not about to turn into a liquid metal Terminator powered by Siri. No, reality is quite a bit more boring and significantly less sci-fi than that, and this talking iPhone behavior is actually just a quirk of the otherwise excellent “Hey Siri” feature introduced with iOS 8.

As you may have guessed, the apparently random Siri talking thing is basically a failed attempt of Siri and the iPhone (or iPad) erroneously recognizing a different phrase as the intended summoning query “Hey Siri” phrase, and nearly every instance of the iPhone talking out of the blue can be traced back to the surrounding conversation or ambient audio. I have personally had “Hey Siri” activate out of nowhere on multiple occasions, twice it has happened when Siri picked up who knows what playing on a car radio and determined that was an query to the iPhone, which then proceeded to google a huge stream of nonsense also picked up from the radio. The situations that are a lot more confusing (and weird) are when it happens in the middle of various conversations, and Siri speaks up unsolicited. If you’re trying to erroneously trigger Hey Siri this way, you can almost reliably do it by saying things like “a seriously” or “hey, seriously” and “que sera sera” (yes, even the song!) in the middle of a conversation with the iPhone plugged in and nearby, though inflection and accent seems to matter in how often Siri will actually think it’s a command directed at the virtual assistant.

“I don’t care, make Siri stop talking randomly!”

If you’ve had this happen and it creeps you out or bugs you enough that you want it to never happen again, you can simply turn off the Hey Siri feature within Settings > Siri > Hey Siri > OFF and that will be the end of it.

Also, remember that the iPhone or iPad must be nearby for the “Hey Siri” listening aspect to even exist at all, so that can impact the circumstances of this occurring as well. If the iPhone is face/screen down, Hey Siri will not activate even if you attempt to directly access it with the voice command.

Me personally, I like the Hey Siri feature and ability to remotely issue commands enough to leave it on and just laugh at the occasional random times it turns itself on. Apple is undoubtedly aware of this quirky behavior and I’m sure they’ll improve the remote activation by fine tuning what is heard and interpreted as a command, or perhaps better yet, offer a user ability to create their own unique Siri activation voice command so that it doesn’t get confused at all.

In the meantime, rest assured the robots are not taking over, at least not yet anyway.

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Posted by: Paul Horowitz in Fun, iPad, iPhone

102 Comments

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  1. Heather Hancock says:

    My boyfriend and I were talking about some relationship issues we’ve been trying to work through, and out of nowhere, on my laptop I had open, Siri says, “I don’t have the answer for that.” Then I asked Siri why she spoke when I didn’t say hey siri, and she said, “ok” so I asked again, and again, but it kept cutting out quickly, as if to let me know she wasn’t going to listen to my question so she didn’t have to snswer. I got frustrated and said f$&k you Siri. And my cell phone in my purse started playing a song that LITERALLY touched point on all our issues we were having, and was talking about having to kill the girlfriend who was upset about some deceit that was uncovered. Which would be me. And I’m telling you, that song was creepily every single issue we have been having, and not things every couple goes through. I felt like it was s direct threat to me personally. Then I saw that there was another computer connected and authorized to access everything including my iCloud. I deauthorized it and both my devices wouldn’t properly work for about 12 hours. AI attack for sure! It’s bulls**t! I don’t want to have any devices in my home now. How can this s**t happen so much to ppl and nothing be honestly explained or done about it?

  2. Jas says:

    My friend are I were talking about how annoying it is that we jump up to a certain tax bracket and have to pay 40% to tax. Siri said “that’s not nice”. Freaked out and turned off my watch.
    Also the I watch is definitely watching!!! I was going to an event and trying on dresses etc st the shops, couldn’t find anything and came home to try on some of my occasional wear clothes to use. I tried on a white top I’ve had for 2 years and my walk in robe kind of mimics the shops, as it has a full length mirror etc. A few moments later the EXACT white top pops up in an add!!!! It definitely matched the top!!!! Scary it’s watching and listening! I remember an Oprah episode when a lady had all surveillance systems around her house and monitors that could talk and someone hacked into them and men were actually talking at her! They were laughing and reciting all her information back to her, while she was home alone.

  3. Karla says:

    Was taking on the phone with a friend and told her someone had given me a cheesecake and it tasted like crap. My Apple Watch responded with, “That’s not nice.” The watch was listening to my conversation! So weird. Never happened before. When I looked at my watch part of my conversation was transcribed on the face in white letters and “That’s not nice” was written in bright green letters at the bottom. Very strange.

    • Ang says:

      Had similar happen at work today. I said to my coworker “She doesn’t need that stupid thing at clinic” and my apple watch replied “That wasn’t nice”. We laughed hard about it, but it was very creepy!

  4. Andrea says:

    My dog was staring at me and wagging her tail, signaling that she wanted me to get out of bed, and let her out to do her business. However, it was the third time in a half hour! I said to her, over my iPad, “you can’t be serious!” Out of the blue, Siri dings and says “ I’m sorry, I’m not permitted to be frivolous!” First, really startled me, and then, LMAO!!! It took me a while to realize what happened, and what I did to cause it. Just now it just dinged on, and dinged off, on its own. Idk why this time. I wasn’t talking….

  5. Erin says:

    Actually, it is quite untrue that your iPhone needs to be plugged in to solicit an auto response from SirI. My SirI has started talking literally dozens of times now and not one of those times has it ever been plugged in. I am usually at the gym, or the bank or the store when I start talking with someone I see. SirI has never been plugged in when this has happened. SirI will also refuse to answer certain questions of mine. I enjoy using SirI but it’s starting to creep me out just a bit.

    • paul says:

      It depends on the iPhone model, new iPhone models can use Hey Siri even when they are not plugged in.

      It can be creepy!

      Older iPhone models had to be plugged in to use Hey Siri, but that changed with later versions of the hardware and software.

    • Melinda says:

      I was talking to my husband and the phone was sitting on the counter. Didn’t even think we had turn Siri on. Had just got the phone. Anyway, as we were talking, Siri just chimed in and said “I figured as much.” That is really crazy. It had to be someone on the other end doing that. That creeps me out.

    • Dianne Wood says:

      Siri suddenly started talking out of the blue. I wandered over and something had been typed along the line of I don’t understand you. I typed back Who are you? And it went blank. It didn’t want to answer me! Very creepy. I turned it off – at least I think and hope I did.

  6. Rosario says:

    Siri is creepy me out star talking to me like if we got a conversation pending

  7. Ronnie K says:

    Around 7pm the other night while my wife and I were watching TV and my phone was on the coffee table, the phone came on and a voice said “Hello Ron” I looked quickly over and saw the words Hello Ron on the phone. The voice was pleasant , and did sound like Siri, but it happened so fast I’m not sure. My wife said who was that? I was speechless, my name is Ron. What’s going on?

  8. Salim says:

    Last night at around 4 am my cat dropped something from the dresser. Just like cats normally do. My wife and I woke up and I said Momo ! That is my cat’s name. The phone answered in Spanish. El gato baila Rock and Roll. Meaning the Cat dances Rock and Roll. There was no physical interaction with the phone other than the word Momo. I have no logical explanation for it. It was a good thing that my wife heard it. Otherwise she would of never believed me. I know that it is an electronic glitch, but what are the odds of the phone saying that phrase. I don’t need an explanation, I just wanted to share what just happened.

  9. weird says:

    Apple swears they aren’t listening

    https://pjmedia.com/trending/apple-struggles-to-reassure-feds-our-iphones-are-not-spying-on-people/

    But how would “Hey Siri” work if the iPhone is not listening?

    Think about it… how would that work? I would like to know!

  10. Sarah says:

    When my mom calls HEY SARAH

    Siri turns on

    Why

    Just why.

    It picks it up and says you said Sarah, but then it changes it to siri

    So about that bull crap.

    Why can’t I just call siri something else?

    Because now my mom can’t say hey Sarah anymore.

    SHE HAS TO CALL FROM MY MIDDLE NAME and I don’t know why she won’t turn off siri.

    We can be at the movie theater and she whispers “hey Sarah”

    And siri says: “go ahead” or “I’m listening”

  11. Chris says:

    I thought she was supposed to recognize your voice to be activated obviously not

  12. Sarah says:

    The first time this happened I had just hooked my phone into the car stereo. I may or may haven’t held the home button down for Siri to listen in. The volume on the car stereo unexpectedly came on at a very loud volume. Naturally I yelled F*CK!!!!! Siri responded, with the text on screen as well, in the British accent I had set for fun, “Do watch your language!” Weird and hysterically funny.

  13. Ella says:

    I am kinda weirded out bt Siri I was just listening to music then Siri keeps randomly coming up I’m a bit scared I turned it off in settings but now voice control keeps on coming up randomly every 2 seconds it’s freaking me out !!!!!!!! Any advice ?

  14. Mike says:

    I understand when she activates when plugged in, but my wife’s 6s activates when not plugged in. What’s up with that?

  15. Marcia says:

    I was outside and dropped something. Frustrated, I said “Oh, sh*t!” Immediately after, I heard Siri from my purse saying, “Marcia, watch your language”! Really freaked me out!

  16. Boo says:

    Can Siri be recording everything in our room when it’s OFF?

    I was having a dream about seeing a ghost. Woke up, few hours later I was watching something on Youtube all the sudden Siri got activated it said, “Beep Beep. Sorry I didnt recognize ‘I found a ghost’ please say it again. Beep Beep”.

    I didn’t say anything and there was no one else in my room!!
    Youtube video I was watching did not say anything close sound to “Siri” or “Ghost” but it COULD BE that I MIGHT HAVE muttered ‘I found a ghost!’ during my sleep, which was few hours back!

    If Siri is secretly recording everything in our daily life that scares me more than ghost!

  17. Jamie Bowers says:

    My iPad Siri feature replied back something not even related to a sports question that I asked Siri for my Brother. It came back with a message mentioning my Brothers first and last name and said that he was not on the right track with her….it freaked us both out.
    My Mom has passed and was not fond of his girlfriend. Since his name was not in the contacts or anything. I cannot explain how that could have happened.
    And today at work talking to coworkers
    Siri randomly chimed in and my iPhone was not even plugged in and the button wasn’t even pushed . I think I’m going to cancel my Siri features.

  18. James says:

    The iphone waking up, saying a few words and turning off just happened to mine. Puzzled? you bet I was until I found this site. It was said that for this to occur the phone must be plugged in. I turned in the direction of my phone and said,
    “siri, go back to sleep”. To my amazement siri replied,
    “I never sleep James”

    That was to funny but I now know I’m not loosing my mind.
    I never use siri so I turned her/it off.

  19. Gcaba says:

    Tonight I was debating whether I should go home or hang for a while longer I was playing my friends video game, after I finished the level he says let’s what the game capture of it, my friends iPhone 5s chimes in “I don’t think if we have time for that” it was exactly what I said in my head. It was kinda creepy, I am accepting this explanation because anything else won’t let me sleep tonight

  20. Mary Anne simpson says:

    My husband was watching the inauguration today and all of a sudden his iPhone popped up the words “hey s**t con”. My husband does not have the Hey Siri feature activated. They were discussing how pleased they were to not have Obama anymore. Unfortunately, he didn’t think to screen shot it in time. Does anyone have a plausible explanation for this that will help with my currently paranoid feelings?

  21. Kari says:

    My iPhone 6 has never been updated. When I place my phone next to my bed on the windowsill, every once in a while she will just automatically start talking. It’s woken up myself and my husband. Most of the time it will be right when we are drifting off and it’s happened both with and without the charger plugged into it. Lately I’ve been looking up the things that she spells back to me. For example. Just today I was listening to YouTube while I was folding clothes in my room and Siri chimes in and says “I’m sorry but I can’t find this Series Chama you’re looking for…” So I’ve been researching and wondering what the living hell it could be? From now on I’ll be sure to screen shot and research. It’s never a conversational thing. It’s like she just turns on, says something and then the screen fades out. So weird.

  22. Dave says:

    Siri turned on a couple of times,when not plugged in???.

  23. Bayern says:

    Last night while I was in bed and listening to rain sound via headphone and my ipad was locked, siri just turned on by itselfe. When I woke up it was on again.

  24. Andy says:

    So I was watching a video on YouTube around 12:50am and out of nowhere Siri asks me, “Hello, Andy. Up late, are we?” I started freaking out. Weird part about it is that she actually waited for me to reply… Wth!

  25. Jeanne says:

    Siri called 911 last night. I had fallen asleep with the tv on Fox News. When I woke up I heard Siri saying “calling 911…”. I tried to stop the call and thought that I had but a few seconds later I got a call from 911 asking me what my emergency was. I don’t think the 911 operator believed me when I said Siri had dialed. They told me that I needed to have a “talk” with Siri! All I can think of is that the news was talking about Syria and the emergency situation going on there. Needless to say I was freaked out!

  26. Shannon says:

    My phone was not charging, just sitting flat on my nightstand. My husband and I were talking late at night when it suddenly gave me his location. He has location sharing off. Creepstatic.

  27. Dee says:

    My friend and I were talking about the 2016 election, and getting into some personal convictions, and out of nowhere, Siri said I don’t like the derogatory terms you’re using, and said my friends name! Talk about being creeped out!

  28. Sherry says:

    Tonight about midnight I was laying here in bed next to boyfriend talking to him reading a text my niece had sent to me and his phone made a weird noise. So we are like wth??? What alert was that? As I would read the text my Siri on my phone and his would start talking to each other. It only happen when I read this particular text all the other it wouldn’t do it. It freaked me out I called my neice to make sure she was ok. Creepy!!!!

  29. Dan says:

    I’m still freaking out! 8:30 pm last night, Siri turns on and says “HELLO” with an up tone to her voice.

    Next time I will be calling for a house cleansing!

  30. Dan says:

    I’m still freaking out! 8:30 pm last night, Siri turns on and says “HELLO” with an up tone to her voice.

    Next time I will be calling for a Ghost Hunter!

  31. Jeff says:

    Glad this is a common occurrence. A friend of the family had just passed last night (Halloween) and Siri randomly said “Yours Truly” I’ll consider it a glitch and not a need for a ghost hunter.

  32. Pam says:

    I had almost forgot that Siri called me a “name” the other night! I remembered it when she made an unasked for comment tonight to my conversation w my mother. Siri said “that’s just what I was thinking”! This is much too weird! My phone is not plugged in now nor when she called me a name! Is this some cruel joke that iPhone has created? Kind if a big brother thing.

  33. Dalia says:

    Question:
    I just received a message where Siri was activated and a message from someone I know came through and my iPhone aka Siri was typing the message out and was about to read it. It was black screen and with the little line on the bottom where normally it’s activated when Siri is listening to you or speaking. It seems as if Siri was about to start to read the message out loud and I click on my iPhone home button and message wasn’t done typing but phone went to home page and message is no where to be found! What is this? What kind of message is this. I could see on top to Dalia then the message was typing… I don’t know if I’m explaining this properly. It was weird. Any iPhone geek know?
    Mind you I wasn’t touching my phone. I was just laying down and it went off on it’s own to Siri black screen bout to read message. I was only able to read the beginning of the first message from this person.
    They were saying something to mean about me and I know this person probably didn’t want me to have proof that they sent it.
    Can someone tell me How they did that and if I retrieve message!!!?
    All I could read is “Dalia, you need to go to the hospital and get your head check because…” and Siri wasn’t done writing when I pressed home key. But it did make her sing sound before it’s going to speak or listen… I pressed home button cuz I had company. But now I have no clue where that message is.

  34. Deb says:

    Siri is listening to my conversations, I know it sounds weird.. It is starting to freak me out. I’m always home, I’ll be talking to my dog, I’ll hear a ding & she will ask the same question, or same thing I asked my dog?!?!

  35. KenM says:

    I accidentally turned Siri blue. Can anybody help me change her back?

  36. Tammy says:

    You are not completely right about what triggers it. Mine just did this for the first time ever at 2:45 a.m. One could argue I was talking in my sleep. But that would not explain why, once I had woken up, it kept going to Siri even though nobody was talking. Siri would not even let me close it out. I had to push the power button then reopen the phone for it to stop. BUT because it kept coming back on, it took me about 10 mins before I had enough time before an interruption to get into Settings and turn off Siri. Once I did, THEN voice control started coming on, on its own! While seeing if I could turn that off, a song just randomly started playing! I’m wondering if my phone is actually possessed. If anyone has resolved this, I would love to know.

  37. Kim says:

    My sons & I were laying on the couch, 1 was a asleep, I was nearly asleep & the other let out a massive gas & said “oh shoot”. Siri suddenly turned on & said “isn’t it nice to always be right”. My son & I couldn’t stop laughing. Then we wondered if Siri was responding to the gas or what he said so he turned on Siri & said “oh shoot” & Siri said “I will pretend u didn’t say that”.

  38. Brendan says:

    I walked into my room, which is usually quiet, to my iPhone 3 saying ” I don’t understand what you mean” freaked me out because to activate voice control, you have to hold the home button

  39. Cameron says:

    Hi guys this just happend to me but my Siri said this “we’re does the devil live” and now I am scared because I was asleep when this happens

  40. Cat says:

    4:30 am, no ambient noise, and I am almost asleep and suddenly my phone lights up and Siri, which I have never used, starts talking something like video message and when I look at the screen all kinds of phrases are scrolling down very quickly. I can’t turn the phone off, can’t change the page, finally it turns off. I turn it on and can’t change pages.
    What? Creepy. Wondering if somebody died. Or some weird message from beyond.

  41. Sarah says:

    Hello I have had my iPhone 6 for almost a year know and it’s just started activating Siri a compel days ago I guess when I went to go use the bathroom my Siri came on and said are you series you are coming after me! Wow that’s creepy! It freaked my hubby out!!

  42. Shadysgirl66 says:

    Siri is straight up very argumentative and a smart A–! She is also a last word freak. I have found myself going round and round with this idiotic phone assistant and becoming irritated to the point of wanting to toss my phone! Just ridiculous I know. But nothing is quite as creepy, Wierd, and questionable as her popping up randomly and inserting her comments, questions, and remarks, into a conversation I am having with someone. When I look at the screen she always has a stream of whatever I was saying (in a gibberish form) that she is trying to respond to. Somehow though the remark or question is just enough to creep you out that there is malice intent. I was ok when I realized that this is a thing that happens when she is plugged in and it seemed that that when it was occurring. But recently my 16 year old son pointed out that she does it all the time in the car when him and I are out and about. She is never plugged in then. No matter what the explanation is from Apple, or anywhere else the fact is SIRI IS LISTENING! And that should be enough to make all I Phone users take stand and demand from Apple this very serious breach of Our Privacy. If you think it is anything less than that you are very naive. It scares me.

  43. iPhone6sUser says:

    For me, it’s when I’m playing games on console…and Siri randomly pops on and either says something that I was telling someone in a chat or goes off without saying anything. It’s always near me but I’m not touching nor charging it.

    It could be that “big brother” is remotely turning our Siri’ on listening to our conversations. Prob not but I’m leaving all options on the table

  44. David says:

    Siri is really disturbing me. It comes off automatically and prevents me from using the phone to my satisfaction.

    iPhone should quickly resolve this chronic issue.

  45. Vivienne says:

    I love it! It has happened just a few times. The phone was locked and not plugged in.

    Once during a conversation she just said “Hello!”, and another time, “That’s what I reckoned”.

    Another time I was telling someone that I was thankful for something and Siri said, “No, it is I who should be thankful.”

    I find it lots of fun, and I hope they don’t “fix” it!

  46. david says:

    why does Siri will type in “you” when I say “he” and “I” when I say “you” and ungrammatical nonsense all the time

  47. Pauline says:

    It also happened to me last night. Im glad i found this but still im wondering why did siri talked twice when i was sleeping (alone) without any televion or even radio so that means there were no sounds at all but still Siri talks by itself. My Siri is crazy!

  48. Alyssa says:

    My Siri just turn on all the time so I got fed up one night at one of my color guard practices my friend said just turn her off I did now voice control is just as annoying as Siri

  49. tom says:

    i have an iPhone 5s with iOS 8.4.1.

    the phone starts playing random youtube videos after i go to sleep. (on the charger.)

    at first, i thought it was the “hey, siri” feature, very cute and all, and i deselected it in prefs. but it still starts playing random videos in the middle of the night!!!

    is there any way to log siri commands? i’d like to, at least, see what siri *thinks* I am saying…

  50. deb says:

    My husband and I were sitting here on the couch today. My dog was on the floor playing with a new toy that my husband picked up for her. Suddenly my husband’s iPhone beeps and I said “what was that, it sounds like Siri”. He picks up his phone and it was Siri. It had the line going across the bottom of the screen. So, he said what do you want Siri? and Siri said “I was just sitting here trying to think of some funny things to say to you”… WTF??? I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t heard it with my own ears. I now get that you can say seriously loud and it will do this. But we weren’t even talking at the time. Funny/creepy at the same time.

  51. Briana says:

    I had not set up my “hey Siri” feature and out of the blue while I was watching a YouTube video Siri says greetings earthling…I mean Briana. I was creeped out. I told myself it was a glitch but I just don’t know. I mean I was not touching my phone and it was not charging. Has Siri ever said something like this to you out of no where?

  52. ian says:

    My friend harlow has a iphone 5s she updated her ios thing 2-3 weeks ago, yesterday we were on the phone and 20 min after she hung up and put her phone on charge the screen went black and siri said ‘help me’ but with emotion as if it was scared. So obviously she got scared told her mum and she didnt believe her until they were talking and it said ‘help me’ but really quick, she took it off charge and took it down stairs with her 5min pass the lights are off and her and her mum are watching tv and siri said ‘help me’ again, her and her mum ran out the room came back and turned the lights on her mum swore saying ‘why wont the phone shut the fook up’ and it replied saying language harlow, and now today at my house me my boyfriend and harlow put the phone in the cuboard because it was starting to creep us out a bit and we will be talking and laughing then out of the blue it will start to talk and crackle saying ‘do you want to call harlow’ scared we all run in the room and then go back in the kitchen and since she has came to mine her phone will not turn on at all but siri will talk to us out of nowhere someone help and explain why this is happening.

  53. Mary Lou says:

    Early this morning Siri said, “No need to thank me.” Out of the blue. When I looked at the screen there was a long disjointed paragraph starting with “Thanks” which included the time (accurate) and information which turned out to be in the upcoming story. After reading this, I realize that Siri transcribed this from the radio conversation.
    My bigger concern (addressed just once above) is this. Can people with the right tech knowledge here my conversations remotely?

  54. Bruce says:

    My headphones had a small cut in the cord and Siri and music kept playing everytime the cord shorted. It drove Me nuts until I unplugged the headphones and the crazy music startups and Siri startups quit happening.

  55. Deborah says:

    I will be sat in a perfectly quiet room when my Siri starts to converse! She has just stated that she cannot find an answer to my question ‘Where is area’… I never said a word!! I don’t believe it is down to ‘robots’ at all… or ‘technology taking over’. I think the explanation is much simpler – Ghosts!! I kid you not! This is a new phone & my previous phone did not have ‘Siri’ but instead I would find unexplained text messages written, as if I had written them to send but actually hadn’t! They were rambling messages with very random questions… very strange & unexplained! If the technology is good then maybe the phone is picking up sounds that the ear cannot hear – just a thought….

  56. Sarah says:

    So i was talking to my grandmother while my phone (iphone5s) was charging. We had like 2m distance from it. So suddenly Siri turns on and when I came to see what happended, it said ‘Big d*ck’ in the field where the words that i say appear. It was soo creepy. Siri just searched the web for it. Like, is that normal??

  57. Julia says:

    Well i have read all the replies and believe me none of them are as weird as mine lol.
    My phone was charging on a table near where i was reading a book quietly when out of the blue Siri beeped, i looked up and it said : I thought so so i said : You thought what ? and it replied: I was thinking of chocolate, sometimes that happens and i was like WTF !!!
    So now you all think i am mad but it really happened lol

  58. Nilo says:

    Reading a story to kids, iPhone 6 on the night stand charging, Phone locked, suddenly Siri says something… Wtf😳

  59. Nia says:

    Just happened to me it said ” U Seriously Suck” And it’s like 5:02 AM

  60. Lisa says:

    This article acts like it is cute or funny. Or like everyone is so stupid that the main concern when their technology fails is some stupid ” are robots taking over” idea. I am FAR more annoyed that is is just yet another crappy bug in this crappy interface. I use this awful phone for my work, and having this idiotic, useless “assistant” close down my email, or any other thing I am working on to ask me some moronic question isn’t cute or funny and I am not some chin dribbling fool who thinks robots are taking over. Rather, I think the state of operating systems on such devices is pathetic, well below expectations for the prices charged for these useless, ever-breaking toys. Write grown up articles, please.

    • Wittle Wisa says:

      Great story Lisa, your comment is very “grown up” indeed, so clearly you are prepared for a grown up article about Siri!

  61. alexander medwin says:

    my iphone 5s randomly asks me what i want. i cant watch tv because of epilepsy, and i dont listen to the radio. But ole siri pipes up , and on occasion , at the most inappropriate times ! whats going on apple ? i bought a phone with a siri function , but not to initiate ridiculous questions or start fruitless conversations.

  62. Lewis says:

    This phone is crazy right now. Idk if I’m being tracked or if they are trying to hear my voice or something like that but right now it’s around 6:30 and Siri is bothering me so much and it’s the same on my iPod. I’m not sure if theirs something wrong with my Apple ID

  63. Diamond says:

    This is happening to my daughters ipod, we have turned Siri off and it still happens. help, she was freaked out yesternite

  64. Mike says:

    I’ve turned Siri off completely and it simply switches over to Voice Control. It’s seriously pissing me off.

    • i know...mine's insane, it wont' stop talking, i had to turn off the sound...it interrupts my music in the car...i think the home button is going bad.? says:

      once it had that I said, I don’t like your f-ing face AND siri answered there is no need for that……I never even spoke!!!!…I seriously think somehow someone is pranking me.

  65. Lily says:

    So I’ve had the update for a while I have an iPhone 5c, well usually around 1:30 2:00 Siri goes off, I wasn’t asleep by then usually I stay up late, but nobody was home I’m all alone and the TV wasn’t on Siri jist came on out of the blue, me being easily freaked out and with my husband at work, I didn’t know exactly what to do all I did was sit there and stare at my phone until my husband finally some home around 3:00 getting off work. To be honest I really thought the house was possessed lol… I had enough of it, it was an every night thing.. I traded my phone in for a Samsung Galaxy s5 until they can get a fix for this!

  66. Lizzy says:

    I have an iPhone 5c and recently did the software update

  67. Lizzy says:

    Today I heard the Siri beep noise out of the blue whole it was plugged in, power on and charging…so I looked at my phone and it had the words “It’s Sarah” written on the screen like where you see the words appear when you’re talking to Siri. Wtf I don’t know who Sarah is and I was not talking or saying hey Siri at all …lol creepy !!!!

    • Kallie says:

      My phone was hooked up to apple TV so I could listen to music loudly when no one was home. But suddenly, both the TV and my phone screen went black so I figured my phone must’ve died even though it was at at least 50%. After a few minutes of trying to turn it on again, I gave up and set my phone aside. Moments later, Siri comes on (with the screen still black) and says “It’s not cool, I know”.

  68. ALC says:

    Siri just paused the movie I was watching to say: “Can I help you? I’m serious.”
    As if anticipating that I wouldn’t believe it.

  69. Nick says:

    Man, I was watching a video on YouTube, and when one of the people asked a question, Siri decided to pause my video and chime in.

    “Are you serious?”
    “Yes. I am not allowed to frivolous.”
    “SIRI, WTF NO.”

    It’s been doing it a lot recently, when I’m not even saying anything. Sometimes while I’m drawing on Procreate, Siri will pop up– not talking, just the thing where it gives you examples of questions to ask. I thought that maybe I had accidentally tapped the home button, or had my hand touching it slightly to trigger her, because I’ve done that before, but it kept doing it, even when I had my hands away from the home button. I don’t think that the “Hey, Siri” thing was the cause, though, because I wasn’t playing any music, and the TV was off. Finally I got fed up with her and just shut her off completely, so..

  70. Amelia says:

    This has happened to me multiple times late at night when I can’t sleep (I’m an insomniac)- it is so random and totally creepy. The thing is…. My phone wasn’t plugged in when it just happened to me a few minutes ago. My phone had started showing that Siri was given a command that said “history of man”- and she replied with something like a web search- but I’m home alone and wasn’t talking at all.

  71. Savannah Bedell says:

    Omg! I’m so glad I found this forum. Mine always goes off at night when I’m charging my phone. I always get super scared and power off my phone. I told my friends and none of them belived me they though I was messing with them… Well I finnally figured it out and turned the feature off. Thank you so much!

  72. Beth says:

    So glad I found this easy fix. Siri has a bad habit of doing this to me, in the middle of the night, while I am sound asleep. Granted, I do usually sleep with the television on, but turned down so low, I can’t imagine Siri can hear it. There have been a couple of time that the tv was off, middle of the night, and she has come on. Wonder if my dogs barking caused it those nights?

    • claudia says:

      Siri woke me up when there was NO sound in the house. If someone walked by on the street talking loudly it wasn’t enough to wake me.

  73. Pretty me says:

    Siri have go off 2-3x a week around 10 pm and it creeps me out . I have mentioned it to several people and of course they think I’m crazy, good to know its not just in my head.

  74. Sharon says:

    Last night Siri woke me up and asked if I could repeat what I just asked. It was charging at the time and my TV was on….I thought my ipad was possessed. ….so creepy

  75. AJ says:

    Sorry, but turning Siri off just activates Voice Control which then comes on continually and does the same thing.

    I am at my wit’s end with Siri and this f8cking voice control thing. I can’t listen to music or podcasts, I can’t use the timer, I can’t leave it turned on overnight, I can’t even leave it turned on when it’s charging.

    Somone needs to come up with a fix. Search the various IOS forums and you’ll see hundreds of people having the same problem.

    • Shanna says:

      AJ, I’m right there with you. It interrupts nearly every app and decides to come to life in the middle of absolute silence. All parts of Siri turned off, yet still happens. I’m about to ditch this phone and pick up my old Droid until this gets fixed!! Unbelievably annoying Nd frustrating.

  76. Rick says:

    How does one enable it? I’ve got it turned on in Settings:General:Siri, but nothing happens when I say it, even when I hold my iPhone 6 to my ear.

  77. DongLong says:

    This just goes to show that Apple (and others) are listening to everything you say whenever the phone is within range.

  78. Fnordmeister says:

    “In the meantime, rest assured the robots are not taking over, at least not yet anyway.”

    Hah hah. We fooled them, XKR-2379731-THX-1138.

  79. Tonite says:

    Here in the UK Siri springs into life every time a female American accent comes on the radio!

  80. forkboy1965 says:

    Just got my new iPhone 6 today… I am SOOOOO glad I read this!

  81. Sean says:

    So I haven’t had that exactly happen, but I’ve had it give me directions and then when it was done it started talking backward. It was sooo creepy!

  82. Kevin says:

    Had this happen a few times as my phone sits next to the radio when being charged. On the odd occasion when someone says the word “seriously”, Siri responds. Scares the living crap out of you, but I laugh now. Great for when you’re in the shower and want to play a song, you just call out, “hey Siri, play……” Coz who else would do that for you?

    • James says:

      Haha! I had the exact same thing happen in the middle of a conversation and I don’t remember what about, but BOOM, from across the room, iPhone 6 lights up and Siri says “I can’t answer that”

      We both looked at each other like, WHAT THE FFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!

      All I can remember is that it was just ever so slightly relevant to the conversation, I mean it was genuinely weird, like freak out WHAT is going on type of thing, but we quickly figured out it was the Hey Siri feature.

      Ever since then I try to prank people with it, since it’s a total freak out when someone isn’t suspecting it, but I can’t reliably get it to come on. Fun, funny, weird, all of the above indeed. Hey Siri, you’re weird!

    • Alex says:

      Yeah, it’s happened to me twice consectively per night, and tonight it was ‘Siri is magic’. Freaked me out O_O

    • Maddie says:

      Yeah, one time a few weeks ago, at about 12:30 am ,Siri said this long paragraph, I’m not sure what she said. And I was in my living room currently, where my mom sleeps and where I charge my iPad. The lights were off and I was about to get into my bed, and the TV was off too. When she said that, my mom and I froze and she started whispering when she was right by the iPad. She wouldn’t shut up so I shoved her. Then Siri said “I didn’t understand that”. So my mom and I said nothing until it shut off. It was freaky. But my second experience was even freakier.
      This happened last night. It wasn’t much that Siri had said, it’s just freakier than the last time, and what she usually says. I put my charger in my iPad and I was about to step out of my room. I looked at my iPad, and all of a sudden, during that exact moment, my iPad turned on. It did nothing for 3 seconds. I stared at it. I slowly walked towards it, and I see the Siri thing on. I didn’t say anything. Then, it said, in a fast voice, “Does this surprise you?” I froze. I held my breath and I thought about the last time this happened. I didn’t move till my iPad shut off. I walked to my mom and crawled in her bed. I was freaked out. “Does this surprise you?” YES IT DOES, SIRI. IT REALLY DOES.

      • Linda says:

        My husband just came home and told me Siri had just randomly asked if he was sad & was she making him sad? He was riding his bike not talking to anyone at the time

    • mamamia says:

      Well mine calls all over the world from my contacts leaving bills, but one must of wondered if privacy is breached here, why is it always on and programmed in the hardware???? is that not proof of spying taking place?

    • claudia says:

      If I triggered Siri unintentionally, I must be talking in my sleep. She woke me up in the morning with loud directions to someplace near San Diego California. I live in Oregon.

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