Dictation not working in iPad OS 18.4 despite being enabled

OK I have done some work on this to try to work out what's going on:

1. This happens on iPads and iPhones.
2. Turning Apple Intelligence of in Siri settings does NOT fix it.
3. Dictation will work for a bit and then stop until the device is rebooted.
4. It has nothing to do with AirPods (but see below)
5. It is not a complete disabling of the Microphone, it is ONLY dictation. For instance, when it happens in WhatsApp I can still leave a voice note, but I can't dictate.
6. Dictation looks like it is happening but when you stop dictation you get no text (sometimes you get just the word "No"!)
7. When broken. If I join the bluetooth in my car, or connect to my AirPods, dictation works. As soon as I come off it, it stops.
8. IT IS REALLY ANNOYING

Me as well! IPad Pro m4 13 in, iOS 18.4.1 and dictation/Siri stops working after a while. Only turning iPad off and on again gets it working and then it unexpectedly stops again. Connected with Apple support and they said they had become aware of the issue and I just needed to wait until they could fix it.

It won’t last. I reset my entire iPad and set it up as new and not from a back up. The problem returned after a day or so.

Just got off the phone with a senior tech guy from Apple who I’ve been working with for several days and who is awesome. He said that various techs have tried all manner of things because many people have called in with the problem, and different solutions like the one you tried work for a short period of time, but the Apple engineers are aware of the fact it is a software issue that needs repair on their end with an update to fix it. Problem is, they have no idea when that’s gonna happen.

But the issue has become common knowledge because it is rampant

I have this same issue. I just submitted the following feedback to Apple using the link brbo provided. This is very annoying (and brbo: it has nothing to do with AirPods which I am not using):

Hi. I have a new iPad Pro 13” running iPad OS 18.4.1. There is an issue in which voice commands to Siri as well as dictation voice input through the mic is not registering. “Hey Siri” doesn’t work at all. If I bring up Siri by holding down the power button, I get the swirly color borders and the orange mic indicator comes on, but it doesn’t hear or register what I’m saying. When I activate dictation nothing I say is actually transcribed. It’s as though the iPad has gone deaf. Only fix is turning the device off and back on, but that fix only works temporarily. A few minutes to a few hours later the same problem happens. There is a discussion thread on apple support forums about this issue - happening to a lot of people, so it doesn’t seem to be a defect with just my device.

I may have fixed this bug by turning Apple Intelligence (a misnomer, it seems) off.

Settings

Apple Intelligence & Siri

Apple Intelligence (OFF)

Do you remember the days when Apple iOS releases were robust instead of being beta products?!

Other forms are discussing this issue as well. I also have an M4 iPad (Pro 13”, fully updated), and this problem has been occurring through several updates. Pressing the dictation button will make the dictation sound and the blue microphone icon pops up, and then it will immediately turn off and make the ‘dictation is off’ sound. BING bong. On off.

Restarting the iPad fixes it immediately until it randomly stops working. Same exact symptoms as the vast majority of people in these discussions.

For me, it’s about once a week, sometimes twice a week. It can’t be extremely inconvenient.

OK, well I think it is because of AI on Siri. I turned it off shut down my iPad and turned my iPad back on with dictation enabled and I am actually dictating this and it is working so maybe that’s the answer to the problem until Apple figures out the rest. If this does not continue working, I will post again. Fingers crossed!

According to an earlier post in this thread, seems Apple are are aware of the issue and are working on it. You may want to send your feedback to reach those working behind-the-scenes. The more info, they receive on which devices and OS versions are affected, the more likely we will see an update that addresses the issue: Product Feedback - Apple

This happened to me as well after 18.4 update. Shutting down iPad Pro and restarting fixes it for about 5 minutes. I use dictation all the time, so this is very frustrating. Dictation on my iphone 14 pro works just fine after update. I wonder if it has something to do with Siri AI? I am going to turn it off and see if that helps.

Just so you know, the problem you describe in which dictation works for a while and then stops working, that problem has been around for a while. I don’t find it necessary to restart my device. I can just quit the app and then restart it and dictation will resume normally at that point until it happens again. There are other problems with dictation as well. In Apple’s notes and mail apps, if I touch the undo icon in the middle of dictation, it will crash the apps. This also happens in Ulysses. The people at Ulysses have told me it’s a system problem that Apple is working on.

This has started affecting me in the last few weeks and is incredibly frustrating because I use dictation a lot. It is not a problem with the microphone. I test with the Voice Memo app and it responds to sound normally.

Doing a restore on the iPad did not solve it. Just rebooting the iPad will temporarily cure the issue.

sgordon582 wrote:

I may just have a solution for everybody! After a 2 1/2 hour conversation with Apple tech-support last night we’ve come up with something that seems to have worked. You need to do a “reset to factory settings”. Go into settings do a hard reset, MAKE SURE YOU CHOOSE THE RESET THAT WILL NOT DELETE ALL YOUR DATA! Choose the right one and it will work. I know this seems extreme, but I was very frustratingly having the same issue as everybody else here with regard to the mic quitting out and dictation not working on my brand new super expensive tablet. I did this reset yesterday afternoon and I have left my iPad alone and then on again and then off again several times since and every time I come back to the device, the dictation is working fine. Again, I know it seems extreme, but a reset is what I did and it and it has worked for me so far. Simply as an extra precaution, it’s always a good idea to back up your data. Make sure you do this first. This is day two and my mic and dictation have not quit on me yet. Good luck.

Too early to declare this a fix. I will put money on the issue returning in the next few days. Especially after moving audio to bluetooth and back. A few of us have already done resets.

Re: "Dictation not working in iPad OS 18.4 despite being enabled"

Thank you for your post to the community, and for letting us know what you have tried.

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Re: "If anyone else is in the same boat as me, I would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions. "

All the best with receiving responses sharing thoughts and suggestions from others in the same boat.

Else: Your post certainly deserves some response. The suggestions below may or may not be helpful.

_______________________________________________________

Re: "Whenever, I use dictation on my iPad, it just does not work".

Wondering what happens when you try ... error message ?

If you haven't already:

You may want to check through Apple Support's guidance available for iPadOS 18 in the articles below

Dictate text on iPad - Apple Support

Eg: says:

"With Dictation on iPad, you can dictate text anywhere you can type it.

You can use typing or handwriting with Dictation. Either the keyboard or tools palette can stay open during Dictation so you can easily switch between speaking and typing or handwriting to enter and edit text.

For example, you can select text with touch or Apple Pencil and replace it with your voice."

See the above linked article for tips:

The commands listed (in the linked article) below are always available while you’re dictating text.

Commands for dictating text on iPad - Apple Support

If following the methods given in the articles does not work for you:

You may want to send feedbackt to reach those who work on the soft-ware behind-the-scenes at Apple.

It is people like yourself, who regularly use dictation, who can make valuable contributions toward improvements.

Website for hardware and software feedback:: Product Feedback - Apple

or

To provide feedback about an accessibility feature on an Apple product,

you can email the Accessibility team directly: accessibility@apple.com.

According to an earlier post in this thread, seems Apple are are aware of the issue and are working on it. You may want to send your feedback to reach those working behind-the-scenes. The more info, they receive on which devices and OS versions are affected, the more likely we will see an update that addresses the issue: Product Feedback - Apple

I may just have a solution for everybody! After a 2 1/2 hour conversation with Apple tech-support last night we’ve come up with something that seems to have worked. You need to do a “reset to factory settings”. Go into settings do a hard reset, MAKE SURE YOU CHOOSE THE RESET THAT WILL NOT DELETE ALL YOUR DATA! Choose the right one and it will work. I know this seems extreme, but I was very frustratingly having the same issue as everybody else here with regard to the mic quitting out and dictation not working on my brand new super expensive tablet. I did this reset yesterday afternoon and I have left my iPad alone and then on again and then off again several times since and every time I come back to the device, the dictation is working fine. Again, I know it seems extreme, but a reset is what I did and it and it has worked for me so far. Simply as an extra precaution, it’s always a good idea to back up your data. Make sure you do this first. This is day two and my mic and dictation have not quit on me yet. Good luck.