13. Working with Siri
In this chapter, you learn about all the great things you can do with your iPhone by speaking to it. Topics include the following:
Siri is Apple’s name for the iPhone’s voice recognition feature. This technology enables your iPhone to “listen” to words you speak so that you can issue commands just by saying them, such as “Send text message to Sam,” and the iPhone accomplishes the tasks you speak.
Getting Started
Siri gives you the ability to talk to your iPhone to control it, get information, and to dictate text. Siri also works with lots of iPhone apps—this feature enables you to accomplish many tasks by speaking instead of using your fingers on the iPhone’s screen. For example, you can hear, compose, send, and reply to text messages; reply to text messages and emails; make phone and FaceTime calls; create and manage calendar events and reminders; and well, the list is practically endless. And Siri can make suggestions as you perform tasks, such as searches, based on what you’ve done before.
In fact, Siri does so many things, it’s impossible to list them all in a short chapter like this one; you should give Siri a try for the tasks you perform and to get the information you need, and, in many cases, Siri can handle what you want to do.
Think of Siri as your personal, digital assistant to help you do what you want to do more quickly and easily (especially when you are working in handsfree mode).
You don’t have to train Siri very much to work with your voice, either; you can speak to it normally, and Siri does a great job of understanding what you say. Also, you don’t have to use any specific kind of phrases when you have Siri do your bidding. Simply talk to Siri like you talk to people (well, you probably won’t be ordering other people around like you do Siri, but you get the idea).
Your iPhone has to be connected to the Internet—using a Wi-Fi network or its cellular data connection—for Siri to work. That’s because the words you speak are sent over the Internet, transcribed into text, and then sent back to your iPhone. If your iPhone isn’t connected to the Internet, this can’t happen, and if you try to use it, Siri reports that it can’t complete its tasks.
Because your iPhone is likely to be connected to the Internet most of the time (via Wi-Fi or a cellular network when you have cellular data enabled), this really isn’t much of a limitation—but it is one you need to be aware of.
Just start speaking to your iPhone and be prepared to be amazed by how well it listens! You’ll find many examples in this chapter to get you going with specific tasks; from there, you can explore to learn what else Siri can do for you.
Configuring Siri
You probably configured Siri when you first turned your iPhone on. The iPhone’s software guides you through the process of enabling Siri and training it to recognize your voice. It’s a good idea to review Siri’s current settings. You might want to make the settings on your phone match the ones I used when creating the figures in this chapter. When you’re comfortable using Siri, you can make adjustments to suit your preferences.
To access Siri’s settings, tap Settings on the Home screen and then tap Siri & Search. There are quite a few options on the Siri & Search screen, but for our purposes, the settings in the following table are the ones you should check.
Siri & Search Settings
Setting |
Description |
|---|---|
Listen for “Hey Siri” |
When this switch is on (green), you can activate Siri by saying, “Hey Siri” in addition to using controls on the phone or earbuds. When this switch is off (white), you can only activate Siri with the other options. |
Press Side Button for Siri (iPhones without a Home button)/Press Home for Siri (iPhones with a Home button) |
When enabled, you can use the identified button to activate Siri. When disabled, you have to use one of the other methods, such as saying “Hey, Siri.” |
Allow Siri When Locked |
When this switch is on (green), you can activate and use Siri without unlocking your iPhone. In some cases, your iPhone needs to be unlocked to complete the task you are doing, but in other cases, Siri can do it for you with the phone locked. |
Language |
Set the language you want Siri to use to speak to you. |
Siri Voice |
Choose the accent and gender of the voice that Siri uses to speak to you (the options you see depend on the language you have selected). |
Siri Responses |
Use these settings to configure how Siri responds to you. To match the figures in this chapter, configure the following settings:
|
My Information |
Choose your contact information in the Contacts app, which Siri uses to address you by name, take you to your home address, etc. |
Siri & Dictation History |
You can use this to delete the record of any Siri interactions or the dictation you have done. |
The rest of the settings on the Siri & Search screen enable you to configure Siri Suggestions. You can determine when Siri presents suggestions, such as on the Lock or Home screens. You can also configure suggestions and shortcuts for individual apps.
Understanding Siri’s Personality
Siri works in two basic modes: when you ask it to do something or when it makes suggestions to you.
Siri’s Personality Shift with iOS 14
In prior versions of iOS, Siri had a dominant personality. When activated, Siri took over the screen and you couldn’t see anything but Siri while it was working. With iOS 14, Siri isn’t so pushy. Instead, Siri is visible at the bottom of the screen, and you continue to see the screen you were on when you activated Siri.
Telling Siri What to Do
When you ask Siri to do something, Siri follows a consistent pattern, and it always prompts you for input and direction when needed.
Activate Siri using one of the following methods:
On the iPhones without a Home button, press and hold the Side button for a couple of seconds until Siri’s Listening symbol appears at the bottom of the screen.
On iPhones with a Home button, press and hold the Touch ID/Home button until Siri’s Listening symbol appears at the bottom of the screen.
Press and hold the center part of the buttons on the EarPods until Siri’s Listening symbol appears at the bottom of the screen and you hear the Siri tone.
Double-tap an AirPod until Siri’s Listening symbol appears at the bottom of the screen and you hear the Siri tone.
Say “Hey Siri;” you see Siri’s Listening symbol at the bottom of the screen and hear Siri respond with something like “Uh huh.” You also see the Hey Siri command on the screen.
Siri Feedback
Siri’s feedback described here and shown in the figures throughout this chapter assume the Siri Responses or Siri Feedback settings are set as described in the Siri Responses section of the table at the beginning of the chapter. If the settings on your phone don’t match those, you will have a different experience than described here.
Activating Siri puts it in “listening” mode. Siri displays the Listening symbol at the bottom of the screen and provides audible feedback if you used “Hey Siri” to indicate that it’s ready for your commands.
Speak your command or ask a question. As you speak, the symbol at the bottom of the screen spins to show you that Siri is hearing your input, and Siri displays its interpretation of what you’ve said. When you stop speaking, Siri goes into processing mode.
Siri then tries to do what it thinks you’ve asked and speaks and shows you the outcome.
If it needs more input from you, Siri prompts you to provide it. Siri moves into “listening” mode automatically and prompts you to speak by playing a tone. If Siri asks you to confirm what it’s doing or to make a selection, do so. Siri completes the action and displays what it has done; it also audibly confirms the result.
When Siri has completed the current task, you can
Tap a related app to work with it—If Siri presents an app as part of the response, tap the app to use it.
Use Siri again—To ask Siri to do something else, tap the Siri symbol at the bottom of the screen and speak your command.
Hide Siri—When you’re done with Siri, tap the screen anywhere outside of Siri windows. Siri moves into the background where it waits patiently for your next command.
Also, how Siri interacts with you can depend on how it was activated. For example, if you started the interaction using the verbal “Hey Siri” option, Siri assumes you want to interact verbally and might respond with other options than you would see or hear when you activate Siri manually. For example, when you ask Siri to show you your appointments for the day in this mode, you see the summary, and Siri reads the first few to you and then asks if you want to hear more. When you activate Siri by using the Side or Touch ID/Home button with the same request, Siri stops after showing you the summary.
When you’re done with Siri, touch outside a Siri window. You move back to where you were.
Siri uses this pattern for all the tasks it does, but often Siri needs to get more information from you, such as when there are multiple contacts that match the command you’ve given. Siri prompts you for what it needs to complete the work. Generally, the more specific you make your initial command, the fewer steps you have to work through to complete it. For example, if you say “Meet Will at the park,” Siri might require several prompts to get you to tell it who Will is and what time you want to meet him at the park. If you say, “Meet William Wallace at the park on 10/17 at 10:00 a.m.,” Siri can likely complete the task in one step.
The best way to learn how and when Siri can help you is to try it—a lot. You find a number of examples in the rest of this chapter to get started.
Following are some other Siri tidbits:
If Siri doesn’t automatically quit “listening” mode after you’ve finished speaking, tap the Siri symbol. This stops “listening” mode and Siri starts processing your request. You need to do this more often when you’re in a noisy environment because Siri might not be able to accurately discern the sound of you speaking versus the background noise.
If Siri has trouble understanding your commands, speak a bit more slowly and clearly enunciate and end your words. If you tend to have a very short pause between words, Siri might run them all together, making them into something that doesn’t make sense or that you didn’t intend.
However, you can’t pause too long between words or sentences because Siri interprets pauses of a certain length to mean that you’re done speaking, and it goes into processing mode. Practicing with Siri helps you develop a good balance between speed and clarity.
If Siri doesn’t understand what you want, or if you ask it a general question, it often performs a web search for you. You then see the results page for the search Siri performed, and you might have to manually open and read the results by tapping the listing you want to see. It opens in the Safari app. In some cases, Siri reads the results to you.
When Siri presents information to you on the screen, you can often tap that information to move into the app with which it is associated. For example, when you tap an event that Siri has created, you move into the Calendar app, where you can add more detail using that app’s tools, such as inviting people to an event, or changing the calendar it’s associated with.
When Siri needs direction from you, it presents your options on the screen, including Yes, Cancel, Confirm, or lists of names. You can speak these items or tap them to select them.
Siri might ask you to help it pronounce some terms, such as names. When this happens, Siri asks you to teach it to pronounce the phrase. If you agree, Siri presents a list of possible pronunciations, which you can preview. Tap Select for the option you want Siri to use.
To use Siri effectively, you should experiment with it by trying to say different commands or similar commands in different ways. For example, when sending email, you can include more information in your initial command to reduce the number of steps because Siri doesn’t have to ask you for more information. Saying “Send an email to Wyatt Earp home about flying” requires fewer steps than saying “Send email” because you’ve given Siri most of the information it needs to complete the task, so it won’t have to prompt you for who you want to send it to, which address you want to use, or what the subject of the email is.
When Siri can’t complete a task that it thinks it should be able to do, it usually responds with “I can’t connect to the network right now,” or “Sorry, I don’t know what you mean.” This indicates that your iPhone isn’t connected to the Internet, the Siri server is not responding, or Siri just isn’t able to complete the command for some other reason. If your iPhone is connected to the Internet, try the command again or try rephrasing the command.
When Siri can’t complete a task that it knows it can’t do, it responds by telling you so. Occasionally, you can get Siri to complete the task by rephrasing it, but typically you have to use an app directly to get it done.
Siri might not be able to complete some tasks because the phone is locked. If that happens, Siri prompts you to unlock your phone (which you can do by using Face ID, touching the Touch ID/Home button, or entering your passcode) and continue with what you were doing.
Siri is really good at retrieving all sorts of information for you. This can include schedules, weather, directions, unit conversions, and so on. When you need something, try Siri first, as trying it is really the best way to learn how Siri can work for you.
Siri sees all and knows all (well, not really, but it sometimes seems that way). If you want to be enlightened, try asking Siri questions, such as these:
What is the best phone?
Will you marry me?
What is the meaning of life?
Tell me a joke.
Some of the answers are pretty funny, and you don’t always get the same ones so Siri can keep amusing you. I’ve heard it even has responses if you curse at it, though I haven’t tried that particular option.
Working with Siri Suggestions
Through Siri Suggestions, Siri becomes proactive and provides information or suggestions for you based on what you’re doing and what you have done in the past. Over time, Siri “learns” more about you and tailors these suggestions to better match what you typically do. For example, when you create a text message and start to input a name, Siri can suggest potential recipients based on prior texts you’ve sent. Similarly, when you perform a search, Siri can tailor the search based on your history.
Because Siri works proactively in this mode, you don’t do anything to cause Siri to take action. It works in the background for you and presents information or options at the appropriate times.
Learning How to Use Siri by Example
As mentioned earlier in this chapter, the best way to learn about Siri is to use it. Following are a number of tasks for which Siri is really helpful. Try these to get some experience with Siri and then explore on your own to make Siri work at its best for you.
Using Siri to Make Voice Calls
You can use Siri to make calls by speaking. This is especially useful when you’re using your iPhone in handsfree mode.
1 Activate Siri (such as by pressing and holding the Side button [iPhones without a Home button] or pressing and holding the Touch ID/Home button [iPhones with a Home button]).
Speeding Up Siri
You can combine these steps by saying “Hey Siri, call Sir William Wallace iPhone.” This is an example where providing Siri with more information when you speak gets the task done more quickly.
2 Say “Call name,” where name is the person you want to call. Siri identifies the contact you named. If the contact has only one number, Siri places the call and you move into the Phone app. If the person has multiple numbers, Siri lists the numbers available and asks you which number to use.
3 Speak the label for the number you want to call or tap it. Siri dials the number for you and you move to the Phone app as if you had dialed the number yourself.
Siri Is Pretty Sharp
Siri can work with all kinds of variations on what you say. For example, if a contact has a nickname configured for him, you can use the nickname or the first name. If you want to call Gregory “Pappy” Boyington, you can say, “Call Pappy Boyington,” or, “Call Gregory Boyington.” If you say, “Call Pappy,” and there is only one contact with that nickname, Siri calls that contact. If more than one contact has “Pappy” as part of their contact information, Siri presents a list of contacts and prompts you to select one.
Placing FaceTime Calls
You can also use Siri to make FaceTime calls by saying, “FaceTime name.”
Having Messages Read to You
The Messages app is among the best to use with Siri because you can speak the most common tasks you normally do with messages, including reading messages you receive. When you receive new text messages, do the following to have Siri read them to you:
1 When you receive a text notification, activate Siri.
2 Speak the command “Read text messages.” (You can combine steps 1 and 2 by saying, “Hey Siri, read text messages.”) Siri reads all the new text messages you’ve received, announcing the sender before reading each message. You have the option to reply (covered in the next task) or have Siri read the message again.
Siri reads each new message in turn until it has read all of them and then announces, “That’s it,” to let you know it has read all of them.
Siri only reads new text messages when you aren’t on the Messages screen. If you’ve already read all your messages and you aren’t in the Messages app, when you speak the command “Read text messages,” Siri tells you that you have no new messages.
3 If you’re done with Siri, tap outside its windows or tap the Siri symbol to activate it again.
Reading Old Messages
To read an old message, move back to the conversation containing the message you want to hear. Activate Siri and say the command “Read text message.” Siri reads the most recent text message to you.
Replying to Messages with Siri
You can also use Siri to speak replies to messages you’ve received. Here’s how:
1 Listen to a message.
2 At the prompt asking if you want to reply, say, “Yes.” Siri prepares a reply to the message.
3 Speak your reply. Siri displays your reply.
4 At the prompt, say “Send” to send the message, “Cancel” to delete it, “Review” to have your message read back to you, or “Change” to replace it. If you tell Siri that you want to send the message, Siri sends it and then confirms that it was sent.
Sending New Messages with Siri
To send a new text or iMessage message, do the following:
1 Say “Hey Siri, send text message to name,” where name is the person you want to text. Siri confirms your command and prepares to hear your text message.
2 Speak your message. Siri listens and then prepares your message.
3 If you want to send the message, say “Send.” Siri sends the message.
4 If you’re done with Siri, tap outside its windows or tap the Siri symbol to activate it again.
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Doing more Messaging with Siri
Following are some other ways to use Siri with messaging:
To send a text message to more than one recipient, say “and” between each name, as in, “Send text to William Wallace and Edward Longshanks.” You can send a text message to as many recipients as you want.
You can speak punctuation, such as “period” or “question mark” to add it to your message.
Messages you receive or send via Siri appear in the Messages app just like messages you receive or send by tapping and typing.
Using Siri to Create Events
Siri is useful for capturing meetings and other events you want to add to your calendars. To create an event by speaking, use the following steps:
1 Activate Siri.
2 Speak the event you want to create. There are a number of variations in what you can say. Examples include, “Set up a meeting with William Wallace on Friday at 10:00 a.m.” or “Doctor appointment on Thursday at 1:00 p.m.” and so on. If you have any conflicts with the event you’re setting up, Siri lets you know about them and asks you if you want to schedule the new event anyway.
3 Say “Confirm” if you don’t have any conflicts or “Yes” if you do and you still want to have the appointment confirmed; you can also tap Confirm. Siri adds the event to your calendar. Say “Cancel” to cancel the event.
4 If you’re done with Siri, tap outside its windows or tap the Siri symbol to activate it again.
Invitees
If you include the name of someone for whom you have an email address, Siri automatically sends invitations. If you include a name that matches more than one contact, Siri prompts you to choose the contact you want to invite. If the name doesn’t match a contact, Siri enters the name but doesn’t send an invitation.
Using Siri to Create Reminders
Creating reminders can be another useful thing you do with Siri, assuming you find reminders useful, of course. Here’s how:
1 Activate Siri.
2 Speak the reminder you want to create.
Here are some examples: “Remind me to buy the A-10 at Motion RC,” “Remind me to finish Chapter 10 at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday,” or “Remind me to buy milk when I leave work.”
Siri provides a confirmation of what you asked. If you didn’t mention a time or date when you want to be reminded, Siri prompts you to provide the details of when you want to be reminded.
3 Speak the date and time when you want to be reminded. If you included a date and time in your original reminder request, you skip this step. Unlike some of the other tasks, Siri creates the reminder without confirming it with you.
4 To add detail to the reminder, tap it. You move into the Reminders app and can add more information to the reminder, as you can when you create one manually.
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Going Further with Siri to Manage Time
Following are some other ways to use Siri with the Calendar, Reminders, and Clock apps:
You can change events with Siri, too. For example, if you have a meeting at 3 p.m., you can move it by saying something like, “Move my 3 p.m. meeting to Friday at 6 p.m.”
You can get information about your events with Siri by saying things such as:
Show me today’s appointments.
Do I have meetings on November 3?
What time is my first appointment tomorrow?
What are my appointments tomorrow?
Siri tells you about the events and shows you what they are on the screen. You can tap any event to view it in the Calendar app.
You can speak to your iPhone to set alarms. Tell Siri what you want and when you want the alarm to be set. For example, you can say something like, “New alarm alarmname 6:00 a.m.,” where alarmname is the label of the alarm. Siri sets an alarm to go off at that time and gives it the label you speak. It displays the alarm on the screen along with a status icon so you can turn it off if you change your mind. You don’t have to label alarms, and you can just say something like, “Set alarm 6 a.m.” However, a label can be useful to issue other commands. For example, if an alarm has a name, you can turn it off by saying, “Turn off alarmname.” You can manage any alarms you create with Siri just like you would manage alarms you create directly in the Clock app. Note that alarms don’t have dates associated with them so you can’t set an alarm for a specific time that is more than 24 hours in the future; if you request one further out than that, Siri offers to create a reminder for you instead. You can create an alarm that activates at the same time every day by saying, “Hey Siri, create an alarm for 6 a.m. every day.”
To set a countdown timer, tell Siri to “Set timer for x minutes,” where x is a number of minutes (you can do the same to set a timer for seconds or hours, too); to make it even easier, you can just say, “Hey Siri, x minutes.” Siri starts a countdown for you and presents it on the screen. You can continue to use the iPhone however you want. When the timer ends, you see and hear an alert. You can also reset the time, pause it, and so on by speaking.
You can get information about time by asking questions, such as “What time is it?” or “What is the date?” You can add location information to the time information, too, as in “What time is it in London, England?”
Tapping any confirmation Siri displays takes you back into the related app. For example, if you tap a clock that results when you ask what time it is, you can tap that clock to move into the Clock app. If you ask about your schedule today, you can tap any of the events Siri presents to move into the Calendar app to work with them.
When you use Siri to create events and reminders, they’re created on your default calendar (events) or reminder list (reminders).
Using Siri to Get Information
Siri is a great way to get information about lots of different topics in many different areas. You can ask Siri for information about a subject, places in your area, unit conversion (such as inches to centimeters), and so on. Just try speaking what you want to learn to best get the information you need. Here’s an example looking for Chinese restaurants in my area:
1 Activate Siri.
2 Say something like, “Show me Chinese restaurants in my area.” (Or a faster way is to combine steps 1 and 2 by saying, “Hey Siri, show me Chinese restaurants in my area.”) Siri presents a list of results that match your query and even provides a summary of reviews at the top of the screen.
Siri prompts you to take action on what it found. For example, if you asked for restaurants, Siri tells you about the closest one and then asks if you want to try it. If you say yes, Siri offers to call it for you or gives you directions. You can tap other items on the list to get more information or directions.
If the result you find isn’t the one you want, say no, and Siri presents the next option to you and asks if that’s the one you want.
When you say yes, Siri offers to call or get directions.
3 If you want to go to the location say, “Yes” when Siri asks if you want directions or say “Directions.” Maps opens and generates directions.
4 Tap GO to start navigating.
Siri is also useful for getting information about topics. Siri responds by conducting a web search and showing you the result. For example, suppose you want to learn about the F-15 fighter plane. Activate Siri and say, “Tell me about the F-15 Eagle.” Siri responds with information about your topic. You can have Siri read the information by activating Siri and saying “Read.” Siri reads the results (this doesn’t always work; it works best when the results are presented via Wikipedia or something similar).
Using Siri to Play Music
You also can play music by telling Siri which music you want to hear.
1 Activate Siri.
2 Tell Siri the music you want to hear. There are a number of variations in what you can say. Examples include:
Play album Time of My Life.
Play song “Gone” by Switchfoot.
Play playlist Jon McLaughlin.
Siri provides a confirmation of what you asked and begins playing the music.
3 Use the Audio Player to control the music with your fingers.
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More Spoken Commands for Music
There are a number of commands you can speak to find, play, and control music (and other audio). If you are currently playing music or other audio, you can say “Hey Siri” and the music pauses so you can speak your command. “Play artist” plays music by the artist you speak. “Play album” plays the album you name. In both cases, if the name includes the word “the,” you need to include “the” when you speak the command. “Shuffle” plays a random song. “Play more like this” finds songs similar to the one playing and plays them. “Previous track” or “next track” does exactly what they sound like they do. To hear the name of the artist for the song currently playing, say “Who sings this song?” You can shuffle music in an album or playlist by saying “Shuffle playlist playlistname.” You can stop the music, pause it, or play it by speaking those commands.
Using Siri to Get Directions
With Siri, it’s easy to get directions—you don’t even have to stop at a gas station to ask.
1 Activate Siri.
2 Say something like, “Give me directions to the airport.” If you want to find a specific location, include the details, such as, “Hey Siri, give me directions to the Indianapolis International Airport.” If you want directions starting from someplace other than your current location, include that in the request, such as, “Get directions from the Eagle Creek Airpark to the Indianapolis International Airport.”
3 If Siri asks if the found airport is the one you want, say “Yes.” Siri uses the Maps app to generate directions.
4 Tap Go to start turn-by-turn directions.
What’s That Now?
Sometimes, Siri gets confused about what you said. In some of these cases, Siri presents a screen with suggestions about what you might have been trying to say. If one of those is what you intended to say, tap it. Siri proceeds based on what you tap. This can be faster than starting over.
Using Siri to Open Apps
As you accumulate apps on your iPhone, it can take several taps and swipes to get to a specific app, such as one that is stored in a folder that isn’t on the page of the Home screen you’re viewing. With Siri, you can open any app on your phone with a simple command.
1 Say “Hey Siri, open appname,” where appname is the name of the app you want to open.
2 If your phone needs to be unlocked to open the app, Siri prompts you to unlock it (such as by using Face ID or touching the Touch ID/Home button). Siri then opens the app for you, and you move to the last screen in the app you were using.
It’s Not All Good
When Siri Misunderstands
Voice commands to Siri work very well, but they aren’t perfect. Make sure you confirm your commands by listening to the feedback Siri provides when it repeats them or reviewing the feedback Siri provides on the screen. Sometimes, a spoken command can have unexpected results, which can include making a phone call to someone in the Contacts app whom you didn’t intend to call. If you don’t catch such a mistake before the call is started, you might be surprised to hear someone answering your call instead of hearing music you intended to play. You can put Siri in listening mode by tapping the Siri symbol, and then saying “no” or “stop” to stop Siri should a verbal command go awry.
Using Siri to Translate
Siri can translate words and phrases from the language you are using into other languages. For example, Siri supports the translation of English into French, German, Russian, Italian, Mandarin, and Spanish among others. Try this translating function to see if it supports the languages you need. Here’s an example of translating an English phrase into Italian:
1 Say “Hey Siri, translate How do I get to the airport into Italian.” Siri does the translation for you and speaks the translated phrase.
2 Tap Play to have Siri speak the translation again.
No Can Do
If Siri is unable to complete the translation you requested, it tells you that it can’t speak that language yet. Apple adds language support to Siri over time so you can try again in the future to see if support for the language you need has been added.
Translate with Authority
Doing one-off translations with Siri is useful, but if you need to do many translations, check out the Translate app. Select the language you want to translate from on the left side. Select the language you want to translate to on the right side. Tap the Microphone and speak the phrase you want to translate. The app performs the translation and speaks the translated phrase.