Back in 2014, Apple introduced the ability for users to say “Hey Siri” and provide hands-free voice commands to Siri with the iOS 8. And while this feature was limited to basic actions and information queries, the technology has improved dramatically in the last decade.
Today, all you have to do on an Apple device is utter the wake words “Hey Siri”, and the virtual assistant will respond. And yes, accidental activations and poorly executed commands are still common with Apple’s voice assistant, but its capabilities are expansive within the available feature set.
Unfortunately, Apple is notorious for being hands-off in its software. And apart from the brief introduction that users get to the concept of Siri while setting up their new device, it rarely brings up the assistant again. After that, users are lucky to learn anything else about the voice assistant again.
Anyone who has seen the occasional ad or has experience with other voice assistants might realize Siri can tell you a sports score or start playing a song. However, that is just barely scratching the surface.
What is Siri?
Siri is a virtual assistant that is part of Apple Inc.’s iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, tvOS, audioOS, and visionOS operating systems. It uses voice queries, focus-tracking, gesture-based control, and a natural-language user interface to answer questions, make recommendations, and perform actions by delegating requests to a set of Internet services. And with continued use, it adapts to the users’ individual language usages, searches, and preferences, returning individualized results.
Siri is a spin-off of a project developed by the SRI International Artificial Intelligence Center. Nuance Communications provided its speech recognition engine, and it uses advanced machine learning technologies to function.
Siri was released as an app for iOS in February 2010. However, two months later, Apple acquired it and integrated it into iPhone 4S at its release on 4 October 2011 and removed the separate app from the iOS App Store.
The assistant has since been an integral part of Apple’s products and has been adapted into other hardware devices, including newer iPhone models, iPad, iPod Touch, Mac, AirPods, Apple TV, and HomePod.
What does Siri do?
Siri supports a vast range of user commands, which include performing phone actions, checking basic information, scheduling events and reminders, and searching the Internet. It can also handle device settings, navigate areas, find information on entertainment, and can engage with iOS-integrated apps.
With the release of iOS 10 in 2016, Apple opened up limited third-party access to Siri, including third-party messaging apps, as well as payments, ride-sharing, and Internet calling apps. And with iOS 11, Apple updated the assistant’s voice and added support for follow-up questions, language translation, and additional third-party actions. iOS 17 enabled users to activate Siri by simply saying “Siri”, while the previous command, “Hey Siri”, is still supported.
How to set up
If you didn’t set up Siri when you first set up your iPhone, go to Settings > Siri & Search, then do any of the following:
- If you want to activate Siri with your voice: Turn on Listen for “Hey Siri.”
- If you want to activate Siri with a button: Turn on Press Side Button for Siri (on an iPhone with Face ID) or Press Home for Siri (on an iPhone with a Home button).
Activate Siri with your voice
When you activate Siri with your voice, Siri responds out loud.
- Say “Hey Siri,” then ask a question or make a request. For example, you can say something like “Hey Siri, what’s the weather for today?” or “Hey Siri, set an alarm for 8 a.m.”
- To ask another question or make another request, say “Hey Siri” again or tap the glowing icon.
Note: To prevent your iPhone from responding to “Hey Siri,” place your iPhone face down, or go to Settings > Siri & Search, then turn off Listen for “Hey Siri.”
You can also say “Hey Siri” to activate the voice assistant while wearing supported AirPods.
Activate Siri with a button
- Do one of the following:
- On an iPhone with Face ID: Press and hold the side button.
- On an iPhone with a Home button: Press and hold the Home button.
- EarPods: Press and hold the center or call button.
- CarPlay: Press and hold the voice command button on the steering wheel, or touch and hold the Home button on the CarPlay Home Screen.
- Siri Eyes Free: Press and hold the voice command button on your steering wheel.
- When Siri appears, ask a question or make a request. For example, you can say something like “What’s 18 percent of 225?” or “Set the timer for 3 minutes.”
- To ask another question or make another request, tap the glowing icon.
When you activate Siri with a button, Siri responds silently when your iPhone is in silent mode. When silent mode is off, Siri responds out loud. You can also activate the assistant with a touch on supported AirPods.
“Hey Siri” commands and phrases
This is a list of some of the many things you can command Siri to do, and it is by no means complete. The natural language processing that Siri performs means that many of these requests can be said in many different ways, also.
Discovering the Siri commands that work best for you will take some trial and error. For best results, think of what you want the assistant to do for you before saying the wake words. This can prevent most issues when trying to get Siri to do something since you will be clear and precise right away.
Also, don’t pause and wait. Say “Hey Siri,” and your command all in one go. This also helps prevent errors in processing.
Here are some of the commands:
- Make phone calls: “Call Mom” or “Call Dad”.
- Hang up a call: “Hang up.”
- Send messages: “Send a message to James” or “Ask David, where are the keys?”
- Get directions: “Get directions home”
- Read back previous messages: “Read back previous messages.”
- Play music: “Play music I like”.
- Stop or change music: “Stop playing” or “Play something else.”
- Set a timer: “Set a timer for 10 minutes” and set multiple timers by naming them, “Set a noodle timer for 8 minutes.”
- Check on a timer: “How much time is left on the timer?”
- Ping nearby devices: “Where is my iPhone.”
- Stop an alarm: “Stop” or “Stop the alarm”. You can also add a person’s name if their device is alarming and belongs to your Apple Home.
- Control HomeKit devices: “Turn on the lights” when commanding a HomePod in the room you’d like to turn the lights on in. Or, provide a zone, “Turn on the lights downstairs.”
- Set a Reminder: “Remind me of this” for something you’re looking at in an app like Safari. Or “Remind me to take out the trash when I get home.”
- Take a photo with the Camera app: “Take a photo” or “Take a selfie.”
- Play media: “Play the next episode of ‘Ted Lasso'” or “Start playing ‘Prehistoric Planet’ in the Living Room.”
- Ask for information: You can throw general queries at Siri, and results will vary.
- Create Calendar events: “Create a Calendar event on April 14 for a doctor’s appointment at 1 p.m.”
- Calculations and random chance: “What is 4,400 divided by 3?” or “Flip a coin” or “Roll two dice”.
- Activate Shazam: “What song is this?”
Siri has access to nearly every app you have installed on your iPhone. You can see how each app interacts with the voice assistant and Spotlight by opening the “Siri & Search” menu in Settings.
More commands
Siri also has several Easter eggs that come and go. Giving these commands will result in a unique response from Siri, but engineers don’t always keep them active forever.
- “Tell me a joke”
- “knock knock”
- “Tell me a story”
- “Tell me a poem”
- “Who let the dogs out?”
- “May the force be with you”
- “What is zero divided by zero?”
- “What is your favorite color?”
- “What is your favorite song?”
- “What is the meaning of life?”
- “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”
- “Blue pill or red pill?”
- “Do you obey the three rules of robotics?”
- “Can I name you Jarvis?”
- “Where can I hide a dead body?”
- “Will you be my friend?”
- “Why did the chicken cross the road?”
- “What is your gender?” or “Are you a boy or a girl?”
- “What do you look like?”
- “What are you wearing?” or “Will you marry me?”
- “What does the fox say?” — try multiple times
- Asking about Google, Android, or Microsoft will result in Siri saying it’s a fan of Apple.
- “Sing for me” or “Beatbox” or “Can you rap?”
New Easter eggs are added all the time. Try saying common phrases from movies, books, or pop culture to get unique results.
Siri has dozens of commands it can parse without installing a single app. Downloading third-party apps adds more capabilities for Siri, but you will have to discover those on a per-app basis.
Ensuring “Hey Siri” gets it right
Many users get frustrated when a smart assistant does not do what they ask. However, this mostly occurs when the user doesn’t know what the assistant can do or how to phrase commands.
Use the list of actions above as a foundation, but take time to experiment and learn new commands. Third-party apps and Shortcuts also open the door to a near-infinite number of things Siri can perform.
To help Siri, ensure you set up various aspects of your device and Apple Services
This includes:
- Keeping Contacts up to date.
- Ensuring your Apple Home has properly labeled devices and rooms.
- Make sure you properly name your Apple Music playlists.
- Ensuring you update your home and work addresses and other points of interest in Apple Maps and your Contacts card.
- Checking which devices have “Hey Siri” enabled to prevent confusion.
- Making sure HomeKit scenes and Shortcuts actions have unique names that Siri won’t confuse with a basic action.
Remember, Siri can only be as accurate as the data you’ve provided.
If “Hey Siri” isn’t working on your iPhone
Check a few settings on your iPhone to make sure that the assistant is set up to listen and respond to your requests.
Check if “Hey Siri” is on
- Go to Settings.
- Tap Siri & Search.
- From here, make sure the following settings are turned on:
- Listen for “Hey Siri”
- Allow Siri When Locked
Set up to recognize your voice
- Go to Settings.
- Tap Siri & Search.
- Turn off Listen for “Hey Siri,” then turn it back on.
- When the Set Up “Hey Siri” screen appears, tap Continue.
- Say each command that you see on your screen.
- Tap Done.
If Siri stops responding
- Go to Settings.
- Tap Siri & Search.
- Tap Siri Responses.
- Tap Prefer Spoken Responses to hear Siri speak responses, even when Silent mode is turned on.
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