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If you’re using an iPhone, iPad, or Mac with the latest updates—specifically iOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, or iPadOS 26—you might have noticed a strange issue with Siri’s voice responses when using the “British” voices.
Here’s what’s happening: When you tell Siri to “Send a new message,” and you’re using one of the four British-sounding voices, Siri doesn’t respond correctly. Instead of asking, “To whom?” or “Who should I message?”, Siri oddly spells out the letters “H-J-U” out loud. This can be confusing and definitely interrupts the smooth experience you’re used to.
Interestingly, this problem only happens with the British voices. If you switch to a different English voice, like American, Australian, Indian, Irish, or South African, Siri responds normally without spelling out letters. So, it seems to be a specific glitch with the British voice options.
What can you do to fix this? Right now, the best workaround is to select a different English voice for Siri when you need to send messages. You can switch back to the British voices after the glitch is fixed in a future update.
To change Siri’s voice:
1. Open Settings on your device.
2. Tap on Siri & Search.
3. Select Siri Voice.
4. Choose a different English option (like American or Australian).
Keep an eye out for updates from Apple, as they may release a fix for this issue soon. Until then, switching voices is a simple way to keep Siri working smoothly without those awkward spelling responses.