Voice dictation unreliable on iPhone 16 Pro Max

2-11-25 2055hrs UPDATE: I installed 18.3.1 and have been dictating away, so far no lockups.

Just got my Iphone 16 pro max 2 weeks ago and have been having this problem off and on. Dictation works perfect for a few texts, then nothing. Enable/disable/enable the microphone, still nothing. It shows the mic is on but acts like nothing was said. If I restart the phone it will work for a few more times and then stop. I have to say the speech to text is more accurate on this Iphone, than it is on my Samsun S24 Ultra, but the stopping in the middle of a sentence makes me want to return it. I have ios version 18.3

I had the same problem on my new iPhone 16 Pro Max with iOS 18.4 and just fixed it. Went into Settings>General>Keyboard then I disabled “Enable Dictation” then turned off my phone. I restarted my phone then re-enabled “Enable Dictation”. This fixed my issue.

I had the same problem after the latest update. So in the bottom right corner i held down the microphone and went to (English). I then added a language, deleted that language and clicked on (English) again and my voice dictation started working again.

A workaround which is unfortunately necessary for me at the moment is to install a third party keyboard like SwiftKey or Google GBoard and use their voice dictation key. It's janky but better than nothing. Also you can use the chatgpt app and dictate into that and then cut and paste into your Imessage or other app. Again it's not the best but it's sometimes better than rebooting.

I think I found a workaround. Just tell Siri to turn on voice control then tell Siri to turn off voice control. That seems to bring it back.

Update: today I got to the Genius Bar thru my Apple Care. Took 30 minutes for the tech to try this and that, then he did the week-old new software update and voila. But he can’t guarantee the problem won’t re-emerge. He’s seen it once before on an iPhone 14.

I think I may have figure out how to stop it happening. I noticed that sometimes when you stop talking, it doesn’t actually turn off on its own. I think if you manually hit the stop recording button in the lower right that prevents it from leaking out when you close whatever it is, you’re doing. Haven’t been doing it for very long but so far so good.

I submitted a bug report through Apple’s website and highly encourage others to do the same. Apple is more likely to address the issue when it receives a significant number of reports.

The link is below.

Official Apple Support

I had to send it back in (via best buy) for repair because it couldnt reach most cell towers and would go into SOS or nothing. Critical texts were being bounced. The Tmobile manager said a number of poeople were having the same issue. Another tech said 10%. Another tech at yet another company said its the worst launch he's ever seen. So keep taking it in, report it, ask for a fix. Maybe the replacement components have it fixed. //crosses fingers//

On reboot 376, just to let my phone dictation work. However, I did notice that your phone dictation will work if you have your headphones in, or if you’re connected to your car, suddenly it works. However, once you disconnect, it won’t go back to normal. Give it a try, I’ll work around for this expensive phone.

Same issue here on my iPhone 16 Pro. It works, then it stops. Sometimes closing and reopening the app fixes it, other times it doesn't and I need to restart the phone.

This is a well known issue that many people experience and Apple doesn't seem to care. This is a big deal.

The voice texting on the 16 Pro is bad when it works. I am shocked by how dumb it is in terms of word selection and auto-corrects, as you often say what you want, it writes it, and as you are hitting send it changes it.

THAT SAID, it just randomly stops working. Hit the mic, the mic appears, you talk, and nothing. The "geniuses" say to reboot and yeah, that fixes it for 12 to 24 hours, then it happens again.

[Edited by Moderator]

I updated my phone today to 18.5. (It was up to date when I first reported the problem, but they've since had a new update) We'll see if that fixes it.

Hello , I’ve the same issue on mi phone 16 PM, I visited the Mac store for any solution but they told me that is necessary to send the phone to apple offices for a physical check due to there’s not a quality alert or something related with this issue . Did you solved it ?

Thanks for the link. Had this issue happen for the first time this AM on my 16 pro max that I've had since October. Already had the latest iOS update. Shutting down and then restarting has fixed the issue for now.