Siri can be a helpful virtual assistant, but it’s not for everyone. Whether you’re concerned about privacy, find Siri to be annoying, or simply don’t use it, disabling Siri is a quick and easy process.
In this article, we’ll walk you through the steps to turn off Siri on your iPhone and iPad.
Without further ado, let’s get started…
How to Turn Siri Off
You can completely disable Siri so that it does not respond to “Hey, Siri” and cannot be activated by pressing the phone’s side button. Take the following steps to set this up:
- Launch the Settings app, then select Siri & Search.
- Deactivate by swiping the toggle button that activates the “Hey Siri” feature to the left.
- Swipe to the left to turn off the “Press Side Button for Siri.”
- After you disable both of these settings, the Turn Off Siri pop-up will appear. Turn off Siri by tapping the button.
Return here to enable both of those settings if you want to reactivate Siri. You’ll need to go through a quick setup process that involves repeating a few Siri commands so your phone can learn your voice.
How to Disable Siri Suggestions
If you find Siri useful on occasion but want to disable some or all Siri suggestions, you can do so as well. Navigate to Siri & Search in the Settings app, where you can disable Siri suggestions only while searching, such as on the Lock Screen or Home Screen. You can also turn off Siri suggestions within specific apps.
How to Turn Off “Hey Siri”
Siri has improved its recognition of the “Hey Siri” key phrase, which is used to activate it with your voice. However, it is far from perfect, and your iPhone may misinterpret normal conversations as requests for Siri. Fortunately, it’s simple to disable this feature of Siri without completely shutting down the virtual assistant. This is how.
- Step 1: On your iPhone or iPad, launch the Settings app.
- Step 2: Choose Siri & Search.
- Step 3: Toggle off at the top. Look for “Hey Siri.”
- Step 4: Now that you’ve done that, your iPhone will no longer listen for the key phrase, but you can still activate Siri by pressing and holding the side button. If you want to use “Hey Siri” again, simply repeat the steps above; again, just keep in mind that you’ll need to retrain Siri for your voice by repeating a few sample phrases.
How to Disable Siri Suggestions Globally or for Individual Apps
If you usually find Siri Suggestions useful but want to disable some or all of them, here’s how.
- Step 1: On your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings and then Siri & Search
- Step 2: Scroll down and uncheck Allow Notifications, Show in App Library & Spotlight, Show When Sharing, and Show When Listening. To change the corresponding features, you can use any combination of those switches or all of them.
- Step 3: You can fine-tune your Siri preferences even further by scrolling down and turning off Siri suggestions only for specific apps. For example, if you don’t want Siri to make suggestions about Safari, select Safari.
- Step 4: Deactivate any functions by swiping the sliders off. For example, turning off Show in App prevents Siri from making suggestions while using Safari. Disabling Show Content in Search, on the other hand, prevents Safari content, such as your history or bookmarks, from appearing when performing a Spotlight search in iOS 16.
How to Disable Siri iCloud Sync
Siri heavily relies on machine learning to tailor its responses to your life and habits. Siri should become more efficient and useful as it becomes more acquainted with you.
Siri’s machine-learning intelligence can be synced across all of your Apple devices using iCloud. This is normally enabled by default if you enable iCloud sharing features when configuring your iPhone or iPad, but you can turn it off at any time from your iCloud settings if you prefer to keep what Siri has learned about you on your local device only.
You can disable your Siri iCloud sync by taking the following steps:
- Step 1: Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad and select your name at the top.
- Step 2: Choose iCloud.
- Step 3: Choose Display All.
- Step 4: Scroll down to Siri and turn it off.
If you change your mind, you can easily reactivate any Siri functions by following the steps outlined above.
Avoiding Pocket Calls
To avoid pocket dials, use this method. Disabling Siri activates Voice Control, and you can’t have both turned off. As a result, you may try disabling Siri to prevent pocket dialing but discover that Voice Control still does it. You can avoid this by enabling Siri and then disabling it on your lock screen. This will necessitate the use of a passcode lock on your device.
This does not completely disable Siri; it simply prevents it from appearing on your lock screen. Follow the steps below to do this:
- Make sure Siri is turned on. To remove Siri from the lock screen, you must first enable it.
- Launch the Settings app and navigate to “General.”
- Tap “Siri” to turn Siri on. Confirm your desire to enable it.
- Return to the Settings app and then choose “Passcode.” You’ll be prompted to enter your passcode if you already have one.
- If “Turn Passcode On” is not enabled, tap it. You will be asked to enter a four-digit passcode for your device. This is required in order to remove Siri from the lock screen.
- In the Passcode menu, turn “Siri” off. This will prevent Siri from starting and pocket dialing someone while the device is locked.
- Remember that you cannot completely disable Siri and prevent your iPhone from receiving voice commands. This is due to the fact that when Siri is disabled, the Voice Control feature takes over automatically and cannot be turned off. This is the best way to stop Siri from opening when you don’t want it to.
How to Turn off Siri on the iPad
When you enable Siri and activate “Hey Siri” on your iPad, Apple’s digital assistant will be activated on all of your Apple devices when you say “Hey Siri.”
If you encounter such issues, you can temporarily disable Siri on your iPad.
#1. Disable Siri on your iPad
The simplest way to turn off Siri on iPad is to place your device face down, which will cause Siri to stop responding to “Hey Siri.”
If this method does not work on your iPhone, the “Fitness Tracking” feature is most likely disabled on your device. To change that;
- Go to Settings > Privacy > Motion & Fitness and turn on the Fitness Tracking toggle.
- Enable iPhone Fitness Tracking
- Once you’ve enabled Fitness Tracking, you should be able to turn off Siri on your device at any time by placing it face down.
When you pick up your device, Siri will be reactivated automatically.
#2. Turn off Siri on your iPad. Uisng Low Power Mode
Another quick way to turn off Siri on devce is to manually enable your device’s Low Power Mode.
- Navigate to Settings > Battery and turn the toggle next to Low Power Mode ON.
- On the iPhone, enable Low Power Mode.
Please keep in mind that while this method turns off Siri, it also disables background App Refresh, Mail Fetch, and other functions.
#3. Permanently Turn Off Siri on iPhone
If you do not need Siri, you can permanently disable it on your iPhone by going to Settings > Siri & Search and turning off all options under the “ASK SIRI” section.
To confirm, tap the Turn OFF Siri option on the confirmation pop-up.
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