Hey Siri not working while using Waze? Here's why

The Waze app is how more and more people are choosing to receive their turn-by-turn directions, and it's awesome because drivers get to shape the app, letting fellow drivers know about closures, delays, police radar traps, collisions, and more.

Waze has a newer feature called "OK Waze," which lets you talk to the app much like you would Siri or Google Assistant. Now, it'd be great if Siri worked with more apps, but it still doesn't (come on!), so Waze has to take the voice commands into its own hands. There's just one problem: since Waze continuously uses the microphone while you're in the app, Hey Siri won't work. As Reddit user 110110 pointed out, OK Waze doesn't just summon the microphone when you utter the phrase; it's on the whole time while you're in the app.

Here are your two fixes: get out of the app or disable OK Waze. If you head to your Home screen, Hey Siri will start working again.

Otherwise, here's how to disable OK Waze:

  1. Launch Waze.
  2. Tap the search button on the bottom left of your screen. It's the magnifying glass.
  3. Tap the settings button on the top left. It's the gear icon.

  1. Tap Sound & Voice.
  2. Tap Talk to Waze.
  3. Tap the switch next to Say "OK Waze".

Once OK Waze is disabled, Hey Siri will work again normally.

Questions? Sound off in the comments below.

Mick Symons

Mick is a staff writer who's as frugal as they come, so he always does extensive research (much to the exhaustion of his wife) before making a purchase. If it's not worth the price, Mick ain't buying.