Make Siri smarter
Take a bit of time to customise Siri to work the way you want it to
IT WILL TAKE 30 minutes
YOU WILL LEARN How to make the most of Siri on iPhone and iPad
YOU’LL NEED iPhone or iPad
Siri is more than just a helpful voice assistant on Apple’s devices. It’s become integral to the way we use them. Think about the suggestions that appear on screen recommending apps to launch, people to contact, or tasks to complete inside apps. Those are all controlled by Siri. Shortcuts use Siri in lots of ways to make them easier to use and more powerful. Ever noticed that when you receive a text message with a two-factor authentication code, the code appears at the top of the keyboard ready to be filled in while you’re still in Safari? That’s Siri.
If you use AirPods, Siri can tell you who is calling you or read out incoming messages. You can ask Siri for more information in a song playing in Music, or invoke Shazam to find out the name of song playing in the room you’re in. In this tutorial, we’ll take you beyond the basics of setting timers, sending messages and turning lights on and off, and show you how to get much more from Siri on your iPhone and iPad.
HOW TO Make Siri work for you
It’s much more convenient to verbally request Siri than to have to press the side button. Tap Settings, then Siri & Search. Toggle the switch on for ‘Listen for “Hey Siri”’. Siri will now respond when you say “Hey Siri”.
Siri can tell you who is calling, but you don’t always want that, so you can specify when it happens. In Siri & Search, tap Announce Calls and choose one of the three options, such as Headphones Only or Headphones & Car.
If you don’t want Siri to speak when your iPhone is on silent, go to Settings > Siri & Search, then tap Siri Responses. Tap When Silent Mode Is Off. Siri will now not speak, though will still work, when Silent Mode is on.
CONTINUED… Ensure Siri works your way
If you want to show the text of what Siri says as captions, or see a transcript of what you say when your speaking to Siri, go to Settings > Siri & Search > Siri Responses and turn on Always Show Siri Captions or Always Show Speech.
Some of the most useful suggestions are those that appear when tapping a share sheet. To activate them, go to Settings > Siri & Search and in the Suggestions From Apple section, turn Show When Sharing on.
Siri
