Siri Not Announcing Outgoing Calls (iOS 18.1)
My father was blinded by a stroke just over a year ago, and had to learn how to interact with his iPhone (14) in different ways. To make a call, he will say "Hey Siri", wait for the "mhm?", then say "Call Steve on Speaker." In iOS 17, Siri would then say "Calling Steve Johnson on Speaker" and the phone would dial and start ringing.
If Siri misheard his command, she would at least say out loud who she was calling, giving my dad the chance to say "Hey Siri, hang up" if it was not the right contact.
In iOS 18, it just immediately begins to ring, without confirming who the phone is calling. This is bad, because if my dad didn't speak it clearly enough, or there's another contact in the phone with a similar name, he could be unknowingly calling someone he doesn't want to call.
I have scoured the iPhone settings, and searched the internet for an answer, but have come up short. Why was this changed (improved confidence in Siri's listening abilities?), and if there's a toggle to turn this back on, why is it so hard to find?
I've made sure "Prefer Spoken Responses" is selected, "Announce Calls" is set to "Always" (though the caption for this one only references Incoming Calls), and "Announce Notifications" is toggled on. I've done a deep dive into the Accessibility options as well, but nothing restores the desired behavior. I have confirmed the same is true on my iPhone 16 Pro running iOS 18.1.
How can I get Siri to verbally confirm who I am calling, if I verbally ask her to call someone?
Side note: We've already tried "Voiceover" mode... it's far more annoying (announcing absolutely everything happening on the screen) than it is helpful, and makes it almost impossible for his nurses / aides to interact with the phone normally (by touch), as the required input gestures are all different.
iPhone 16 Pro, iOS 18
