The Accidental Listener
The Apple Watch features a convenient but highly sensitive setting called “Raise to Speak.” When enabled, you do not need to press a button or say “Hey Siri” to activate the voice assistant. Instead, the watch utilizes its internal gyroscope. If it detects that you have rapidly raised your wrist toward your face, it automatically activates the microphone and begins listening for a command. Unfortunately, this algorithm misfires constantly. If you adjust your glasses, drink a glass of water, or simply scratch your nose, the watch will falsely trigger, record the background conversation in the room, and attempt to run it as a Siri command. You must disable the gesture trigger.
How to Turn Off Raise to Speak
You can permanently strip Siri’s access to the gyroscope via the Siri settings.
- Open the Settings app directly on your Apple Watch (the grey gear icon).
- Scroll down the main list and tap on Siri.
- Under the “Ask Siri” section, locate the master toggle switch labeled Raise to Speak.
- Toggle this switch to the Off position (the green background will disappear).
Manual Activation
The change is instantaneous. The Apple Watch will completely sever the connection between the physical lifting motion of your arm and the microphone activation circuit. You can now raise your wrist as aggressively and as frequently as you want without the watch ever accidentally listening to your conversations. To use Siri, you must now explicitly hold down the Digital Crown or clearly say the wake phrase.