One of the most important features in the new Apple iPhone 4S is Siri, the voice controlled “information assistant”. But folks like me who upgraded from a previous iPhone with iOS 5 installed might not find Siri on our new iPhone. The reason: the upgrade process disables Siri! Here’s how to fix it.
One of the coolest things about the iPhone is the fact that you can upgrade from one device to another without losing your applications, content, and settings. With iOS 5, this upgrade can even take place over the air using iCloud, though most folks probably don’t have iCloud backup enabled on older iPhones at this point.
The problem arises when upgrading to an iPhone with the same OS but new features. In iTunes or iCloud restore will set any new features to “disabled” on the new phone. This is exactly what happens when upgrading from an iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4 already running iOS 5 to a new iPhone 4S: Siri and her location services are both set to “disabled” after the restore process is complete.
The fix is pretty straightforward, however. Open Settings, select General, then Siri, and flip the switch to “on”. Then, back in Settings, select Location Services and scroll down to Siri and turn this on as well. Now you should be all set with Siri on your new iPhone 4S!
I’m surprised that Apple hasn’t fixed this already in iOS 5. After all, I expect that many iPhone 4S buyers will be upgrading from a previous iPhone model, and I rather doubt that they really want to disable Siri!