Here’s How to Fix Siri Not Working on Mac

Out of all the common issues your MacBook goes through, one of the most important is when Siri is not working. & yeah!! It scares the hell out of me sometimes because the virtual assistant does almost everything for me. There can be multiple reasons why Siri is not responding & in the same way, there can be hundreds of solutions as well.

From your iOS device to macOS, Siri is something you rely on completely & imagine all of a sudden, it stops working or responding. Wouldn’t that be odd? This is when you start googling for “why Siri is not working or Siri isn’t responding on Mac” & etc. So we have brought you the list of fixes you need to take care of so that Siri starts working smoothly just like before.

How to Fix Siri Not Working on Mac

1. Check if Siri is Turned On

At times, we start looking for tech solutions without knowing that the issue can be as minute as just not-enabled feature. So in our case where Siri is not working, it’s important to check if the recent update or any software installation has disabled Siri (automatically). So you can follow below steps to fix this issue:

1. You need to open System Preferences on your MacBook & head your way to Siri.
2. Check if the Enable Ask Siri box is already checked.
3. Now there you are on the page, try to tweak the settings a bit up & down by resetting those like they already were.

Following the above steps may bring your virtual assistant back to the normal phase it was in before.

2. Siri iCloud Resyncing

Since Siri is something that you can find on almost every Apple device, it’s always better to sync the same using iCloud. & iCloud is being used to synchronize everything, it can give you a hard time for reasons like bugs, network connection, & whatnot. These reasons can lead to the issue of Hey Siri not working or responding. So in order to resynchronize Siri on your devices,

1. Follow the same process of entering into System Preferences.
2. Now tap on Apple ID & then look for Siri in the list.
3. Here you need to uncheck Siri & check it again to make the connection stronger.

Following this process will start the Siri connection on the Apple devices & hopefully, the issue of Siri not working on Mac will get fixed.

3. Mic Quality Checking

God, it sounds very silly to mention this reason here but there is a possibility that Siri is having issues because of bad quality microphone. So actually this issue can be more of a functional issue that relates to the microphone if it isn’t working properly or not. So in order to check the mic functionality on your Mac:

1. Again go to System Preferences & navigate yourself to Sound.
2. Among the above head points (Sound Effects / Output / Input), tap on Input.
3. Under this functionality, you need to check what the input volume is set to & whenever you are speaking, the volume level is fluctuating or not.

Checking if your mic is working properly will clear out things if the microphone is the issue behind Hey Siri not working situation.

4. Is Your Siri Restriction Free or Not?

With every new update, your system is capable of something it wasn’t before. For example, the latest macOS update brought the New Screen Time feature on the table. This amazing feature is being tested out by many users to set a limit on the amount of time you spend on certain apps every day. So our point to mention restriction-free here to check if knowingly/unknowingly you have put Siri in that list & now Siri isn’t responding as you may have put a few restrictions on it. So you need to check if Siri is in the list & to do that:

1. Navigate yourself to System Preferences & then Screen Time
2. Look for Content & Privacy Restrictions functionality & go through the list of apps that are mentioned there.
3. Here you need to uncheck anything & everything that has Siri mentioned so that you won’t have a minute issue related to Siri, let alone Siri is not responding.

5. Active Internet Connection

Sometimes, we are so lost in solving the problem, we overlook the necessary checks we must have taken care of in the first place. Necessary checks like if Siri is enabled, the microphone is working fine, or the system has an active internet connection. Yeah!! It’s possible that the connection has been breached & you aren’t aware of it because you are too busy looking for technical glitches.

Make sure your Mac has an active & constant internet connection to keep things going smoothly & you won’t have to worry about Siri not working on Mac.

Wrapping Up

Siri not working on Mac isn’t a shock because it can happen because of many reasons including the ones mentioned above. You just need to keep checking the minute ones before as well as the necessary checks & start the elimination process of narrowing down the possible reasons for Hey Siri not working issue. Here you will go through the above fixes & explore them to get out of the situation & start using Siri just like you were initially.

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