“Vocal Shortcuts” is one of the major highlights of iOS 18. Using this brand-new Accessibility feature, you can create a wide range of custom phrases to trigger preferred actions. From a Siri Shortcut to a system action to an Accessibility feature, it is equipped to let you perform a variety of actions.
Even in terms of ease of use and efficiency, Vocal Shortcuts is up to the mark, which is a big plus as you don’t have to go through the grind of a long learning curve. For all the rave reviews, it does run into some issues once in a while and fails to work as expected. Frustrated by the issues on a few occasions, I thought it would be great to share some handy tips to fix the iOS 18 vocal shortcuts not working on iPhone and iPad.
Fix Vocal Shortcuts Not Working on iPhone and iPad
At times, the “Vocal Shortcuts” don’t activate even when you speak the custom phrases loudly and repeatedly. On other occasions, they tend to trigger automatically. Whatever cause could be spoiling your party, there is a solution to resolve the issue.
1. Ensure That You Have Perfectly Set Up and Verified the Vocal Shortcuts
Bear in mind that creating a vocal shortcut requires you to verify a phrase by speaking it three times. If you don’t go through the verification phase, the shortcut will remain incomplete and therefore won’t work at all.
2. Delete All the Existing Vocal Shortcuts and Create New Ones With Precision
Wiping out all the redundant shortcuts and creating new ones from scratch and with precision may help you get rid of the miscellaneous glitches. So, get rid of the entire clutter and make some shortcuts by perfectly following the instructions.
- To do so, go to the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad -> Accessibility -> Vocal Shortcuts -> Edit button.
- Now, tap on the red button to the left of the shortcut and hit the Delete button on the right.
- Repeat these same quick steps to eliminate each and every shortcut.
- Once you have cleaned up the shortcut, hit Done at the top.
- Next, reboot your device and head into the Settings app -> Accessibility -> Vocal Shortcuts -> Set Up Vocal Shortcuts -> select a preferred action -> enter a custom phrase and verify it.
- Next up, speak that custom phrase to check if the vocal shortcut gets activated.
3. Disable/Enable Vocal Shortcuts
If the issue persists, disable and re-enable vocal shortcuts on your device.
- On your iPhone or iPad, head into the Settings app -> Accessibility -> Vocal Shortcuts -> disable the toggle for Vocal Shortcuts.
- Now, restart your device.
- Once your device has rebooted, go back to the Accessibility setting and turn on Vocal Shortcuts.
4. Update Software
A software bug might also be behind the malfunctioning of the vocal shortcuts. If that happens to the case, a timely software update will likely resolve the problem.
- Launch the Settings app -> General -> Software Update -> download and install the latest iOS/iPadOS update.
5. Factory Reset
If the vocal shortcuts continue to ill-function, factory reset your iOS device. Erasing the custom settings and bringing everything to the default state may help troubleshoot the misfiring shortcuts.
- Navigate to the Settings app -> General -> Transfer or Reset iPhone/iPad -> Reset -> Reset All Settings -> input the passcode of your device and confirm the action.
- Try to activate a vocal shortcut to check if it works as expected. Hopefully, it will now function as usual.
