Chapter 6. Siri Voice Command

Siri, the iPhone’s famous voice-recognition technology, is actually two features. First, there’s dictation, where the phone types out everything you say. It’s described in Chapter 4.

Second, there’s Siri the voice-controlled minion. You can say, “Wake me up at 7:45 a.m.,” or “What’s Chris’s work number?” or “How do I get to the airport?” or “What’s the weather going to be like in San Francisco this weekend?”

You can also ask questions about movies, sports, and restaurants. Siri displays a beautifully formatted response and speaks in a calm voice.

You can even ask her, “What song is that?” or “Name that tune.” She’ll identify whatever song is playing in the background, just as the popular Shazam app does. It’s creepy/amazing.

You can operate her hands-free, too. Instead of pressing the Home button to get her attention, you just say, “Hey Siri.” (The 6s and 7 models can respond even when running on battery power.)

Until iOS 10, only Apple decided what Siri could understand. Now, though, the creators of certain apps can teach Siri new vocabulary, too. For example, you can now say, “Send Nicki a message with WeChat,” “Pay Dad 20 dollars with Square Cash,” and “Book a ride with Lyft” or “Order me an Uber.”

Note

The kinds of apps Apple permits to tap into Siri are in these six categories: audio or video calls, messages, payments, photo searching, booking rides, and starting workouts. Notably absent: music apps. You still can’t say, “Play some Dave Brubeck on Spotify,” for example. Apple Music is the only music service Siri understands.

Voice Command

In 2010, Apple bought Siri, a company that made a voice-control app (no longer available) for the iPhone. Apple cleaned it up, beefed it up, integrated it with the iPhone’s software, and wound up with Siri, your virtual servant.

Note

Believe it or not, Siri is a spinoff from a Department of Defense research project called CALO (Cognitive Agent that Learns and Organizes), which Wikipedia describes as “the largest artificial-intelligence project ever launched.” In a very real way, therefore, Siri represents your tax dollars at work.

The spinoff was run by the Stanford Research Institute (SRI). But that’s not where Siri’s name came from. Siri, it turns out, is a Norwegian word meaning “beautiful woman who leads you to victory.” (Cocreator Dag Kittlaus named her. He’s Norwegian.)

Siri is a crisply accurate, astonishingly understanding, uncomplaining, voice-commanded servant. No special syntax is required; you don’t even have to hold the phone to your head.

Most speech-recognition systems work only if you issue certain limited commands with predictable syntax, like “Call 445-2340” or “Open Microsoft Word.” But Siri is different. She’s been programmed to respond to casual speech, normal speech. It doesn’t matter if you say, “What’s the weather going to be like in Tucson this weekend?” or “Give me the Tucson weather for this weekend” or “Will I need an umbrella in Tucson?” Siri understands almost any variation.

And she understands regular, everyday speaking. You don’t have to separate your words or talk weirdly; you just speak normally.

It’s not Star Trek. You can’t ask Siri to clean your gutters or to teach you French. (Well, you can ask.)

But, as you’ll soon discover, the number of things Siri can do for you is impressive. Furthermore, Apple continues to add to Siri’s intelligence through software updates.

Note

Apple also keeps increasing the number of languages that Siri understands. Already, Siri understands English (in nine varieties), Arabic, Cantonese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Mandarin, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, and Turkish. You change the language by visiting Settings→Siri.

How to Use Siri

To get Siri’s attention, you have three choices:

• Hold down the Home button until you see a wavy animation on the screen. Siri no longer double-beeps or vibrates when you trigger her, except when you trigger her remotely. She gives a double-beep when you use CarPlay, your earbuds clicker, or “Hey Siri” (described next). The phone doesn’t have to be unlocked or awake, which is awesome. Just pull the phone out of your pocket and hold down the Home button.

  Tip

  Some people press the Home button to trigger Siri, and then release the button and start talking. But you can also hold the Home button down the entire time you’re speaking. That way you know Siri won’t attempt to execute your command before you’re finished saying it.

• Hold down the clicker on your earbuds cord or the Call button on your Bluetooth earpiece.

• Say, “Hey Siri.”. A double-beep plays. (You have to turn this feature on in advance. And unless you have a 6s or 7 model, it works only when the phone is plugged into power, like a USB jack. Details in a moment.)

Now Siri is listening. Ask your question or say your command. You don’t have to hold the phone up to your mouth; Siri works perfectly well at arm’s length, on your desk in front of you, or on the car seat beside you.

Note

Apple insists that Siri is neither male nor female. In fact, if you ask Siri her gender, she’ll say something noncommittal, like, “Is this relevant?” But that’s just political correctness. Any baby-name website—or a Norwegian dictionary—will tell you that Siri is a girl’s name.

When you’re finished speaking, be quiet for a moment (or, if you’ve been pressing the Home button, release it). About a second after you stop speaking, Siri connects with her master brain online and processes your request. After a moment, she presents (and speaks) an attractively formatted response.

Tip

You generally see only the most recent question and response on the Siri screen. But you can drag downward to see all the previous exchanges you’ve had with Siri during this session.

To rephrase your question or cancel or start over, tap the screen to interrupt Siri’s work. (You can also cancel by saying “Cancel” or just by pressing the Home button.) Tap the microphone icon to trigger your new attempt.

And when you’re completely finished talking to Siri, you can either press the Home button, hold down your earbuds clicker, or say something like “Goodbye,” “See you later,” or “Adios.” You’re taken back to whatever app you were using before.

How to Use “Hey Siri”

Siri can also accept spoken commands without your touching the phone. It’s an ideal feature for use in the car, when your hands and eyes should be focused on driving. (Of course, the safest arrangement is not to interact with your phone at all when you’re driving.)

The phone won’t respond to “Hey Siri” unless you’ve set it up like this:

• Turn on “Hey Siri.”. Open Settings→Siri and turn on Allow “Hey Siri” (it comes turned off).

• Train Siri to recognize your voice. You have to do a quick training session to teach Siri what you sound like. Otherwise, a lot of people would be freaked out when they say things like “Jay’s weary” or “Space? Eerie!” and the phone double-beeps in response.

  As soon as you turn on Allow “Hey Siri” the training screens appear. Hit Set Up Now. The screen asks you to say “Hey Siri” three times, then “Hey Siri, how’s the weather today?” and “Hey Siri, it’s me.” That’s all Siri needs to learn your voice.

At that point, you’re good to go. Anytime you want to ask Siri something, just say, “Hey Siri”; at the sound of the double-beep, say your thing.

Just remember that most iPhone models don’t respond to “Hey Siri” except when they’re plugged in and charging. (Having to listen constantly for the “Hey Siri” command is exhausting for your iPhone; it uses a lot of power. This requirement ensures that it won’t drain your battery.) The exceptions: the iPhone 6s and 7 models, which can listen for you even on battery power.

Thanks to “Hey Siri,” you now have a front-seat conversationalist, a little software friend who’s always happy to listen to what you have to say—and whose knowledge of the world, news, sports, and history can help make those cross-country drives a little less dull.

What to Say to Siri

Siri comes with two different cheat sheets to help you learn her capabilities. To produce either one, hold down the Home button to make Siri’s “What can I help you with?” screen appear. Then:

• Wait. After 5 seconds of silence, Siri begins displaying screen after screen of example commands, under the heading “Some things you can ask me.”

• Tap the tiny ? button to reveal the list of categories shown below.

Tip

Or just trigger Siri and then say, “What can I say?” or “What can you do?” or “Help me!” The same cheat sheet appears.

Here are the general categories of things you can say to Siri:

• Opening apps. If you don’t learn to use Siri for anything else, for the love of Mike, learn this one.

  You can say, “Open Calendar” or “Play Angry Birds” or “Launch Calculator.”

  Result: The corresponding app opens instantly. It’s exactly the same as pressing the Home button, swiping across the screen until you find the app you’re looking for, and then tapping its icon—but without pressing the Home button, swiping across the screen until you find the app you’re looking for, and then tapping its icon.

• Change your settings. You can make changes to certain basic settings just by speaking your request. You can say, for example, “Turn on Bluetooth,” “Turn off Wi-Fi,” “Turn on Do Not Disturb,” or “Turn on airplane mode.” (You can’t turn off airplane mode by voice, because Siri doesn’t work without an Internet connection.)

  You can also make screen adjustments: “Make the screen brighter.” “Dim the screen.”

  Result: Siri makes the requested adjustment, tells you so, and displays the corresponding switch in case she misunderstood your intention.

  Note

  If you’ve protected your phone with a fingerprint, you may have to unlock it before you’re allowed to change settings. Security and all that.

• Open Settings panels. When you need to make tweakier changes to Settings, you can open the most important panels by voice: “Open Wi-Fi settings,” “Open Cellular settings,” “Open Personal Hotspot settings,” “Open Notification settings,” “Open Sounds settings,” “Open wallpaper settings,” and so on.

  You can open your apps’ settings this way, too: “Open Maps settings,” “Open Netflix settings,” “Open Delta settings,” and so on.

  Siri is smart enough not to open security-related settings this way; remember that you can use Siri even from the Lock screen. She’s protecting you from passing pranksters who might really mess up your phone.

  Result: Siri silently opens the corresponding page of Settings.

• Calling. Siri can place phone calls or FaceTime calls for you. “Call Harold.” “Call Nicole on her mobile phone.” “Call the office.” “Phone home.” “Dial 512-444-1212.” “Start a FaceTime call with Sheila Withins.” “FaceTime Alex.”

  Result: Siri hands you off to the Phone app or FaceTime app and places the call. At this point, it’s just as though you’d initiated the call yourself.

  Siri also responds to questions about your voicemail, like “Do I have any new voicemail messages?” and even “Play my voicemails.” (After playing each message, Siri gracefully offers to let you return the call—or to play the next one.)

• Alarms. You can say, “Wake me up at 7:35.” “Change my 7:35 alarm to 8:00.” “Wake me up in 6 hours.” “Cancel my 6 a.m. alarm” (or “Delete my...” or “Turn off my...”).

  This is so much quicker than setting the iPhone’s alarm the usual way.

  Result: When you set or change an alarm, you get a sleek digital alarm clock, right there beneath Siri’s response, and Siri confirms what she understood.

  

• Timer. You can also control the Timer module of the phone’s Clock app. It’s like a stopwatch in reverse, in that it counts down to zero—handy when you’re baking something, limiting your kid’s video-game time, and so on. For example: “Set the timer for 20 minutes.” Or “Show the timer,” “Pause the timer,” “Resume,” “Reset the timer,” or “Stop it.”

  Result: A cool digital timer appears. A little stopwatch icon appears on the Lock screen to remind you that time is ticking down.

  Tip

  You can specify minutes and seconds: “Set the time for two minutes, thirty seconds,” for example.

• Clock. “What time is it?” “What time is it in San Francisco?” “What’s today’s date?” “What’s the date a week from Friday?” Or just “Time.”

  Result: When you ask about the time, you see the clock identifying the time in question. (For dates, Siri just talks to you and writes out the date.)

• Contacts. You can ask Siri to look up information in your address book (the Contacts app)—and not just addresses. For example, you can say, “What’s Gary’s work number?” “Give me Sheila Jenkins’s office phone.” “Show Tia’s home email address.” “What’s my boss’s home address?” “When is my husband’s birthday?” “Show Larry Murgatroid.” “Find everybody named Smith.” “Who is P.J. Frankenberg?”

  Result: A half “page” from your Contacts list. You can tap it to jump into that person’s full card in Contacts. (If Siri finds multiple listings for the person you named—“Bob,” for example—she lists all the matches and asks you to specify which one you meant.)

  

  Tip

  In many of the examples on these pages, you’ll see that you can identify people by their relationship to you. You can say, “Show my mom’s work number,” for example, or “Give me directions to my boss’s house” or “Call my girlfriend.” For details on teaching Siri about these relationships, see “Advanced Siri” in Advanced Siri.

• Text messages. “Send a text to Alex Rybeck.” “Send a message to Peter saying, ‘I no longer require your services.’” “Tell Cindy I’m running late.” “Send a message to Janet’s mobile asking her to pick me up at the train.” “Send a text message to 212-561-2282.” “Text Frank and Ralph: Did you pick up the pizza?”

  Result: Siri prompts you for the body of the message, if you haven’t specified it. Then you see a miniature outgoing text message. Siri asks if you want to send it; say “Yes,” “Send,” or “Confirm” to proceed.

  Tip

  If you’re using earbuds, headphones, or a Bluetooth speaker, Siri reads the message back to you before asking if you want to send it. (You can ask her to read it again by saying something like, “Review that,” “Read it again,” or “Read it back to me.”) The idea, of course, is that if you’re wearing earbuds or using Bluetooth, you might be driving, so you should keep your eyes on the road.

  If you need to edit the message before sending it, you have a couple of options. First, you can tap it; Siri hands you off to the Messages app for editing and sending.

  Second, you can edit it by voice. You can say, “Change it to” to re-dictate the message; “Add” to add more to the message; “No, send it to Frank” to change the recipient; “No” to leave the message on the screen without sending it; or “Cancel” to forget the whole thing.

  You can also ask Siri to read incoming text messages to you, which is great if you’re driving. For example, you can say, “Read my new messages,” and “Read that again.”

  Tip

  If you’ve opted to conceal the actual contents of incoming texts so that they don’t appear on your Lock screen (Bonus Settings in a Place You Didn’t Expect), then Siri can read you only the senders’ names or numbers—not the messages themselves.

  You can even have her reply to messages she’s just read to you. “Reply, ‘Congratulations (period). Can’t wait to see your trophy (exclamation point)!’” “Call her back.” “Tell him I have a flat tire and I’m going to be late.”

  

• Email. Siri can read your email to you. For example, if you say, “Read my latest email” or “Read my new email,” Siri reads aloud your most recent email message. (Siri then offers you the chance to dictate a response.)

  Or you can use the summary-listing commands. When you say, “Read my email,” Siri starts walking backward through your Inbox, telling you the subject of each, plus who sent it and when.

  After a few listings, Siri says: “Shall I read the rest?” That’s your opportunity to shut down what could be a very long recitation. If you say “Yes,” she goes on to read the entire list of subject lines, dates, and senders.

  Result: Siri reads aloud.

  Tip

  You can also use commands like “Any new mail from Chris today?” “Show new mail about the world premiere.” “Show yesterday’s email from Jan.” All of those commands produce a list of the messages, but Siri doesn’t read them.

  You can also compose a new message by voice; anytime you use the phrase “about,” that becomes the subject line for your new message. “Email Mom about the reunion.” “Email my boyfriend about the dance on Friday.” “New email to Freddie Gershon.” “Mail Mom about Saturday’s flight.” “Email Frank and Cindy Vosshall and Peter Love about the picnic.” “Email my assistant and say, ‘Thanks for arranging the taxi!’” “Email Gertie and Eugene about their work on the surprise party, and say I really value your friendship.”

  (If you’ve indicated only the subject and addressee, Siri prompts you for the body of the message.)

  Tip

  You can’t send mail to canned groups of people using Siri—at least not without MailShot, an iPhone app that exists expressly for the purpose of letting you create email addressee groups.

  You can reply to a message Siri has just described, too. “Reply, ‘Dear Robin (comma), I’m so sorry about your dog (period). I’ll be more careful next time (period).’” “Call her mobile number.” “Send him a text message saying, ‘I got your note.’”

  Result: A miniature Mail message, showing you Siri’s handiwork before you send it.

• Calendar. Siri can make appointments for you. Considering how many tedious finger taps it usually takes to schedule an appointment in the Calendar app, this is an enormous improvement. “Make an appointment with Patrick for Thursday at 3 p.m.” “Set up a haircut at 9.” “Set up a meeting with Charlize this Friday at noon.” “Meet Danny Cooper at 6.” “New appointment with Steve, next Sunday at 7.” “Schedule a conference call at 5:30 p.m. tonight in my office.”

  

  Result: A slice of that day’s calendar appears, filled in the way you requested.

  Tip

  Siri may also alert you to a conflict, something like this: “Note that you already have an all-day appointment about ‘Boston Trip’ for this Thursday. Shall I schedule this anyway?” Amazing.

  You can also move previously scheduled meetings by voice. For example, “Move my 2:00 meeting to 2:30.” “Reschedule my meeting with Charlize to a week from Monday at noon.” “Add Frank to my meeting with Harry.” “Cancel the conference call on Sunday.”

  You can even consult your calendar by voice. You can say, “What’s on my calendar today?” “What’s on my calendar for September 23?” “When’s my next appointment?” “When is my meeting with Charlize?” “Where is my next meeting?”

  Result: Siri reads you your agenda and displays a tidy Day view of the specified date.

• Directions. By consulting the phone’s GPS, Siri can set up the Maps app to answer requests like these: “How do I get to the airport?” “Show me 1500 Broadway, New York City.” “Directions to my assistant’s house.” “Take me home.” “What’s my next turn?” “Are we there yet?”

  Tip

  You can also say, “Stop navigation”—a great way to make Maps stop harassing you when you realize you know where you are.

  You can ask for directions to the home or work address of anyone in your Contacts list—provided those addresses are in your Contacts cards.

  Result: Siri fires up the Maps app, with the start and end points of your driving directions already filled in.

• Reminders. Siri is a natural match for the Reminders app. She can add items to that list at your spoken command. For example: “Remind me to file my IRS tax extension.” “Remind me to bring the science supplies to school.” “Remind me to take my antibiotic tomorrow at 7 a.m.”

  The location-based reminders are especially amazing. They rely on GPS to know where you are. So you can say, “Remind me to visit the drugstore when I leave the office.” “Remind me to water the lawn when I get home.” “Remind me to check in with Nancy when I leave here.”

  Tip

  It’s pretty obvious how Siri knows to remind you when you leave “here,” because she knows where you are right now. But she also understands “home” and “office,” both yours and other people’s—if you’ve entered those addresses onto the corresponding people’s cards in Contacts.

  Siri can also understand the word “this” when you’re looking at an email message, a web page, or a note. That is, you can say, “Remind me about this at 7 p.m.” or “Remind me about this when I get home.” Sure enough: Siri will flag you with a reminder Notification at the appropriate time—and add an entry, with a link to the original message, web page, or note, to the Reminders app.

  Result: A miniature entry from the Reminders app, showing you that Siri has understood.

  

• Notes. You create a new note (in the Notes app) by saying things like, “Make a note that my shirt size is 15 and a half” or “Note: Dad will not be coming to the reunion after all.” You can even name the note in your request: “Create a ‘Movies to Watch’ note.”

  But you can also call up a certain note to the screen, like this: “Find my frequent-flier note.” You can even summon a table-of-contents view of all your notes by saying, “Show all my notes.”

  Result: A miniature Notes page appears, showing your newly dictated text (or the existing note that you’ve requested).

  Tip

  You can keep dictating into the note you’ve just added. Say, “Add ‘Return books to library’” (or just say, “Add,” and she’ll ask you what to add). She’ll keep adding to the same note until you say, “Note that...” or “Start a note” or “Take a note” to begin a fresh note page.

  You can add text to an earlier note: “Add Titanic II: The Voyage Home to my ‘Movies to Watch’ note.” (The first line of any note is also its title—in this case “Movies to Watch.”)

• Restaurants. Siri is also happy to serve as your personal concierge. Try “Good Italian restaurants around here,” “Find a good pizza joint in Cleveland,” or “Show me the reviews for Olive Garden in Youngstown.” Siri displays a list of matching restaurants—with ratings, reviews, hours, and so on.

  But she’s ready to do more than just give you information. She can actually book your reservations, thanks to her integration with the OpenTable website. You can say, “Table for two in Belmont tonight,” or “Make a reservation at an inexpensive Mexican restaurant Saturday night at seven.”

  Result: Siri complies by showing you the proposed reservation. Tap one of the offered alternative time slots, if you like, and then off you go. Everything else is tappable here, too—the ratings (tap to read customer reviews), phone number, web address, map, and so on.

  

• Businesses. Siri is a walking (well, all right, not walking) Yellow Pages. Go ahead, try it: “Find coffee near me.” “Where’s the closest Walmart?” “Find some pizza places in Cincinnati.” “Search for gas stations.” “French restaurants nearby.” “I’m in the mood for Chinese food.” “Find me a hospital.” “I want to buy a book.”

  Result: Siri displays a handsome list of businesses nearby that match your request.

  Tip

  She’s a sly dog, that Siri. She’ll help you out even if your requests are, ahem, somewhat off the straight and narrow. If you say, “I think I’m drunk,” she’ll list nearby cab companies. If you indicate that you’re craving relief from your drug addiction, she’ll provide you with a list of rehab centers. If you refer to certain biological urges, she’ll list escort services.

• Playing music. Instead of fumbling around in your Music app, save yourself steps and time by speaking the name of the album, song, or band: “Play some Beatles.” “Play ‘I’m a Barbie Girl.’” “Play some jazz.” “Play my jogging playlist.” “Play the party mix.” “Shuffle my ‘Dave’s Faves’ playlist.” “Play.” “Pause.” “Resume.” “Skip.”

  If you’ve set up any iTunes Radio stations (Chapter 9), you can call for them by name, too: “Play Dolly Parton Radio.” Or be more generic: Just say, “Play iTunes Radio” and be surprised. Or be more specific: Say, “Play some country music” (substitute your favorite genre).

  Result: Siri plays (or skips, shuffles, or pauses) the music you asked for—without ever leaving whatever app you were using.

• Apple Music. If you subscribe to Apple’s $10-a-month Apple Music service, Siri offers a huge range of even more useful voice controls. For example, you can call for any music in Apple’s 30 million–song catalog by song name, album, or performer: “Play ‘Mr. Blue Sky.’” “Show me some Elton John albums.” “Play ‘Yesterday’ next” (or “...after this song”). Or ask to have a singer or album played in random order: “Shuffle Taylor Swift.”

  When you hear a song you like, you can say, “Play more like this.” Or, “Add this song [or album] to my library.” (Or, if you don’t like it, “Skip this song.”)

  If more than one person performed a song, be specific: “Play ‘Smooth Criminal’ by Glee.” You can even ask for a song according to the movie it was in. “Play that song from Frozen.”

  Or start one of your playlists by name (“Play ‘Jogging’”). Or re-listen to a song: “Play previous.” Or ask for one of Apple Music’s radio stations: “Play Beats 1” or “Play Charting Now.”

  While music is playing, Siri is happy to tell you what you’re listening to. (“What song is this?” “Who’s the singer?” “What album is this from?”) You can also tell her, “Like this song” or “Rate this song five stars.” She’ll note that and offer you more songs like it on the For You screen of the Apple Music app.

  You can ask her to play the top hits of any year or decade (“Play the top song from 1990”; “Play the top 35 songs of the 1960s”).

  Result: Just what you’d expect!

• Identifying music. Siri can listen to the music playing in the room and try to identify it (song name, singer, album, and so on).

  Whenever there’s music playing, you can say things like, “What’s that song?” “What’s playing right now?” “What song is this?” or “Name that tune!”

  Result: Siri listens to the music playing at your home/office/bar/restaurant/picnic—and identifies the song by name and performer. There is also, needless to say, a Buy button.

• Weather. “What’s the weather going to be today?” “What’s the forecast for tomorrow?” “Show me the weather this week.” “Will it snow in Dallas this weekend?” “Check the forecast for Memphis on Friday.” “What’s the forecast for tonight?” “Can you give me the wind speed in Kansas City?” “Tell me the windchill in Chicago.” “What’s the humidity right now?” “Is it nighttime in Cairo?” “How’s the weather in Paris right now?” “What’s the high for Washington on Friday?” “When will Jupiter rise tomorrow?” “When’s the moonrise?” “How cold will it be in Houston tomorrow?” “What’s the temperature outside?” “Is it windy out there?” “When does the sun rise in London?” “When will the sun set today?” “Should I wear a jacket?”

  

  Result: A convenient miniature Weather display for the date and place you specified.

• Stocks. “What’s Google’s stock price?” “What did Ford close at today?” “How’s the Dow doing?” “What’s Microsoft’s P/E ratio?” “What’s Amazon’s average volume?” “How are the markets doing?”

  Result: A tidy little stock graph, bearing a wealth of up-to-date statistics.

• Find My Friends. You see this category only if you’ve installed Apple’s Find My Friends app. “Where’s Ferd?” “Is my dad home?” “Where are my friends?” “Who’s here?” “Who is nearby?” “Is my mom at work?”

  Result: Siri shows you a beautiful little map with the requested person’s location clearly indicated by a blue pushpin. (She does, that is, if you’ve set up Find My Friends, you’ve logged in, and your friends have made their locations available.)

• Search the web. “Search the web for a 2016 Ford Mustang.” “Search for healthy smoothie recipes.” “Search Wikipedia for the Thunderbirds.” “Search for news about the Netflix-Amazon merger.”

  Tip

  Siri uses Microsoft’s Bing search service to perform its web searches. If you prefer Google, just say so. Say, “Google Benjamin Franklin.” (For that matter, you can also ask Siri to “Yahoo” something—for example, “Yahoo blueberry dessert recipes.”)

  Wikipedia is a search type all its own. “Search Wikipedia for Harold Edgerton.” “Look up Mariah Carey on Wikipedia.” Pictures get special treatment, too: “I want to see pictures of cows.” You can also say, “Show me pictures of...” or “Find me...” or “Search for...”

  Result: Siri displays the results of your search right on her screen. Tap one of the results to open the corresponding web page in Safari.

• Sports scores. At last you have a buddy who’s just as obsessed with sports trivia as you are. You can say things like, “How did the Indians do last night?” “What was the score of the last Yankees game?” “When’s the next Cowboys game?” “What baseball games are on today?”

  You can also ask questions about individual players, like “Who has the best batting average?” “Who has scored the most runs against the Red Sox?” “Who has scored the most goals in British soccer?” “Which quarterback had the most sacks last year?”

  And, of course, team stats are fair game, like “Show me the roster for the Giants,” “Who is pitching for Tampa this season?” and “Is anyone on the Marlins injured right now?”

  Result: Neat little box scores or factoids, complete with team logos.

  

• Movies. Siri is also the virtual equivalent of an insufferable film buff. She knows everything. “Who was the star of Groundhog Day?” “Who directed Chinatown?” “What is Waterworld rated?” “What movie won Best Picture in 1952?”

  It’s not just about old movies, either. Siri also knows everything about current showtimes in theaters. “What movies are opening this week?” “What’s playing at the Watton Cineplex?” “Give me the reviews for Doctor Strange.” “What are today’s showtimes for Trolls?”

  Result: Tidy tables of movie theaters or movie showtimes. (Tap one for details.) Sometimes you get a movie poster filled with facts—and, of course, you get a link to rent or buy it on iTunes.

  

• Facts and figures. This is a huge category. It represents Siri’s partnership with the Wolfram Alpha factual search engine (www.wolfram-alpha.com). The possibilities here could fill an entire chapter—or an entire encyclopedia.

  You can say things like, “How many days until Valentine’s Day?” “When was Abraham Lincoln born?” “How many teaspoons are in a gallon?” “What’s the exchange rate between dollars and euros?” “What’s the capital of Belgium?” “How many calories are in a Hershey bar?” “What’s a 17 percent tip on sixty-two dollars for three people?” “What movie won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1985?” “When is the next solar eclipse?” “Show me the Big Dipper.” “What’s the tallest mountain in the world?” “What’s the price of gold right now?” “What’s the definition of ‘schadenfreude’?” “How much is 23 dollars in pesos?” “Generate a random number.” “Graph x equals 3y plus 12.” “What flights are overhead?”

  Result: For simple math and conversions, Siri just shows you the answer. For more complex questions, you get a specially formatted table, ripped right out of Wolfram Alpha’s knowledge base.

  Tip

  Siri can also harness the entire wisdom of Wikipedia. You can say, for example, “Search Wikipedia for Tim Kaine,” or “Tell me about Alexander Hamilton,” or “Show me the Wikipedia page about Richard Branson.”

• Post to Twitter or Facebook. iOS is a red-blooded, full-blown Twitter companion. So you can say things like, “Tweet ‘I just saw a three-headed dog catch a Frisbee in midair. Unreal.’” “Tweet with my location, ‘My car just broke down somewhere in Detroit. Help?’”

  Facebook is fair game, too. You can say, “Post to Facebook, ‘The guy next to me kept his cellphone on for the whole plane ride,’” or “Write on my timeline, ‘I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.’”

  Result: Siri offers you a sheet (miniature dialog box) where you can approve the transcription and then, if it all looks good, send it off to your Twitter or Facebook feed.

  Tip

  If someone’s Twitter address is recorded in Contacts, you can say, “Tweet Casey Robin: Loved your last tweet!” Siri sends a tweet to that person (@CaseyRobin253 Loved your last tweet!). Anyone who follows both of you will see that tweet. (Alas, Siri cannot send direct messages—private person-to-person tweets.)

  

• Search Twitter. If you say something like, “What are people saying?” or “What’s going on?” or “What’s happening on Twitter?” you see a list of tweets on the current trending topics on Twitter. (Tap a tweet in the list to open it into a new window that contains more information and a View in Twitter button.)

  Or ask, “What are people saying about the Chicago Bears?” to read tweets on that subject. Or, conversely, you can ask, “What is Jimmy Kimmel saying on Twitter?” to see his most recent tweets. (You can substitute the names of other people or companies on Twitter.) Or, “Search Twitter for the hashtag ‘FirstWorldProblems.’” (A hashtag is a searchable phrase like #toofunny or #iphone7, which makes finding relevant tweets on Twitter much easier.)

  Result: Siri displays 10 or so tweets that match your query.

• Round up photos or videos. This trick can save you a lot of time and fussing. You can ask Siri to show you all photos or videos according to the time or place you shot them, or according to the album name they’re in. “Show me the videos from Halloween last year,” you can say. “Get me the videos from Utah.” “Show me the Disney World album.” “Open the Panoramas album.” “Show me the Slo-mo videos from Oberlin College.” “Give me the pictures from last summer.”

  Result: You get a screenful of little square thumbnails of photos or videos that match your request. Tap one to open it, or tap Show All to see all the photos/videos in that batch.

Non-Apple Apps

It’s a big deal: In iOS 10, Apple has finally permitted Siri to control apps from other companies. Once you find out what these commands are, they can accelerate other apps just as much as Siri already accelerates Apple’s.

Here are a few examples:

• Lyft, Uber. “Order a Lyft.” “Call me an Uber.” Siri asks you to tap the kind of car you want to order; one further tap orders the ride.

• Pinterest. “Find toddler bedroom idea pins on Pinterest.” The Pinterest app opens, displaying pins that match your search query (from all of Pinterest, not just your pages).

• Square Cash. “Pay Casey 10 dollars with Square Cash.” Boom: You’ve just sent money to lucky, lucky Casey.

• LinkedIn. “Send a LinkedIn message to Robin that says, ‘Can you vouch for me?’”

• WhatsApp, WeChat, Skype. All of these chat apps work exactly like iOS’s own Messages app, in that you can send “text messages” entirely by voice. Just say “with [name of app] at the end of your command, or use the messaging app’s name as a noun.

  For example: “Tell Eric ‘I think I left my wallet in your car’ with WhatsApp.” “Send a WeChat to Phoebe saying, ‘Are we still going out?” “Let Marge know ‘I accidentally left your front door open this morning’ in Skype.”

To see a list of all your apps that understand Siri commands, open Settings→Siri→App Support. There they are: All the Siri-compatible apps, with on-off switches.

You may never find the end of the things Siri understands, or the ways that she can help you. If her repertoire seems intimidating at first, start simple—use her to open apps, dial by voice, send text messages, and set alarms. You can build up your bag of tricks as your confidence grows.

Note

Remember that you can use Siri without even unlocking your phone—and therefore without any security, like your passcode. Among certain juvenile circles, therefore, Siri is the source of some interesting pranks. Someone who finds your phone lying on a table could change your calendar appointments, send texts or emails, or even change what Siri calls you (“Call me ‘you idiot’”), without having to enter the phone’s passcode!

The solution is simple. In Settings→Touch ID & Passcode, if you scroll way down, you can turn off Siri. Of course, you’ve now lost the convenience of using Siri when the phone is locked. But at least you’ve prevented having your own phone call you an idiot.

When Things Go Wrong

If Siri doesn’t have a good enough Internet connection to do her thing, she’ll tell you so.

If she’s working properly but misrecognizes your instructions, you’ll know it, because you can see her interpretation of what you said. And, as indicated by the little hint tap to edit, you can tap Siri’s interpretation to open up an editing screen so that you can make corrections by typing.

Tip

You can also correct a misheard command just by speaking the correct version, like this, “I meant Chicago.” Siri gets what you mean.

If Siri recognizes what you said but it isn’t within her world of comprehension, she offers you a Search the web button as a last resort.

Siri’s Personality

Siri’s understanding of casual spoken commands is so impressive that you might sometimes think she’s almost human. And that, of course, is exactly what Apple wants.

You can say all kinds of off-kilter things to Siri. After you’ve encountered a few of her answers, you won’t be surprised to find out that Apple actually employs a comedy-writing team exclusively for Siri-humor purposes.

For example, if you ask her, “What is the meaning of life?” she responds with one of more than a dozen different answers. She might say, “I can’t answer that now, but give me some time to write a very long play in which nothing happens.” Or “It’s nothing Nietzsche couldn’t teach ya.” Or: “All evidence to date suggests it’s chocolate.”

Siri is full of such comebacks, and there are whole websites dedicated to her snark. Here are a few examples. (This list won’t ruin the fun, because Siri actually has several different comebacks to most of these questions.)

You: “Who’s your daddy?” Siri: “You are. Can we get back to work now?”

You: “Open the pod bay doors, Hal.” Siri: “I’m sorry, I’m afraid I can’t do that.” (Then: “Are you happy now?”)

You: “Knock knock.” Siri: “Knock knock. Who’s there? Joshua. Joshua who? Joshua, I don’t do knock-knock jokes.”

You: “What are you wearing?” Siri: “You have the wrong personal assistant, Carl.”

You: “Who’s the boss?” Siri: (Presents the vital statistics of Bruce Springsteen.)

You: “Beam me up, Siri!” Siri: “Please remove your belt, shoes, and jacket, and empty your pockets.”

You: “Show me the money.” Siri: “I’ve found 23 ATMs that are fairly close to you...”

You, in the evening: “Good morning, Siri.” Siri: “Good morning? It’s 9:24 p.m.!”

You: “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?” Siri: “42 cords of wood, to be exact. Everyone knows that.”

You: “Guess what.” Siri: “You won the lottery?”

You: “Talk dirty to me.” Siri: “Humus. Compost. Pumice. Silt. Gravel.”

You: “Why did the chicken cross the road?” Siri: “I am not perspicacious about the peregrinations of poultry.”

You: “Do you have a religion?” Siri: “My policy is the separation of spirit and silicon.”

You: “Klaatu barada nikto.” Siri: “OK, I’ll pass the message on to Gort.” (You kind of have to know The Day the Earth Stood Still to get it.)

Here are a few other things to say to Siri when you get bored:

• I love you, Siri.

• Will you marry me?

• You’re so sexy.

• When is your birthday?

• What’s the best phone?

• Can you sing?

• Why are we here?

• You’re cute.

• You make me so mad!

• What do you want?

• Tell me a joke.

• Tell me a story.

• Sing for me.

• I’m cold.

• Do you love me?

• Why are we here?

• I need a bathroom.

• What are you doing?

• You’re the best assistant ever!

• You’re funny.

• Guess what?

• You’re an idiot.

• Have a nice day.

• How are you today?

• I don’t have any friends.

• What do you think is the best tablet?

• How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

• Oh my god.

• What does “Siri” mean?

• Am I your best friend?

• Do you believe in love?

• What do you think I should wear for Halloween?

• Testing 1, 2, 3.

• I’m tired.

• What’s your secret?

• What do you think of Android?

• What do you think of Windows?

• You don’t understand love.

• You don’t understand me.

• I’m sorry.

• Am I fat?

• What are you wearing?

• Siri?

• Who’s on first?

• Why are you so awesome?

• Where are you?

• What do you think of Google Now?

• Okay, Glass.

• Do you like Android phones?

• What’s the best cellphone?

• What’s the best computer?

• How much do you cost?

• What are you doing later?

• Make me a sandwich.

• Does Santa Claus exist?

• Do you believe in Santa Claus?

• Should I give you a female or male voice?

• I don’t like your voice.

• Are you serious?

• Are you kidding me?

• Do you want to go on a date?

• Blah blah blah.

• LOL.

• Who’s your boss?

• You are good to me.

• You are boring.

• Give me a kiss.

• What are the three laws of robotics?

• Let’s play a game.

• Read me a haiku.

• Take me to your leader.

• Can I borrow some money?

• Siri, rap.

• Siri, beatbox.

• When will Hell freeze over?

• Tell me the story of Sleeping Beauty.

• Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

• Trick or treat!

• What do you want?

• OK Google.

• What’s your favorite animal?

• Do you have children?

• Do you have a boyfriend?

• What are the lottery numbers going to be tomorrow?

• What are you doing tomorrow?

• What did you do last night?

• What are you doing this weekend?

• What’s your favorite movie? (...TV show, song, color, book, computer, phone, operating system, app)

• What should I ask Tim Cook?

• Are you smart?

• How do I look?

• Have you ever loved anyone?

• Do you have any pets?

• Do I look good in this outfit?

• Talk dirty to me.

• Flip a coin.

• Roll a die.

• Roll two dice.

• Rock paper scissors.

• Yes or no?

• Read me a haiku.

• Pick a card.

• Tell me a riddle.

• What’s 0 divided by 0?

• What’s infinity times infinity?

• What is the passcode?

• Do you follow the three laws of robotics?

• What are the three laws of robotics?

• When is the world going to end?

• Stop it, Siri.

Tip

You may notice that Siri addresses you by name in her typed answers, but she doesn’t always speak it when she reads those answers out loud.

Ordinarily, she calls you whatever you’re called in Contacts. But you can make her call you whatever you like. Say, “Call me Master” or “Call me Frank” or “Call me Ishmael.” If you confirm when she asks, from now on, that’s what Siri will call you in her typed responses.

Advanced Siri

With a little setup, you can extend Siri’s powers in some intriguing ways.

Teach Siri About Your Relationships

When you say, “Text my mom” or “Call my fiancée,” how does Siri know who you’re talking about? Sure, Siri is powerful artificial intelligence, but she’s not actually magic.

Turns out you teach her by referring to somebody in your Contacts list. Say to her something like, “My assistant is Jan Carpenter” or “Tad Cooper is my boyfriend.” When Siri asks for confirmation, say “Yes” or tap Confirm.

Or wait for Siri to ask you herself. If you say, “Email my dad,” Siri asks, “What is your dad’s name?” Just say his name; Siri remembers that relationship from now on. (The available relationships include mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, brother, sister, child, son, daughter, spouse, wife, husband, boss, partner, manager, assistant, girlfriend, boyfriend, and friend.)

Behind the scenes, Siri lists these relationships on your card in Contacts. Now that you know that, you can figure out how to edit or delete these relationships as well. Which is handy—not all relationships, as we know, last forever.

Fix Siri’s Name Comprehension

Siri easily understands common names—but if someone in your family, work, or social circle has an unusual name, you may quickly become frustrated. After all, you can’t text, call, email, or get directions to someone’s house unless Siri understands the person’s name when you say it.

One workaround is to use a relationship, as described in the previous section. That way, you can say, “Call my brother” instead of “Call Ilyich” (or whatever). Another is to use Siri’s pronunciation-learning feature. It kicks in in several different situations:

• When you’re texting. If Siri offers the wrong person’s name when you try to text someone by voice, say, “Someone else.” After you’ve sent the message, Siri apologetically says, “By the way, sorry I didn’t recognize that name. Can you teach me how to say it?”

• After Siri botches a pronunciation. Tell her, “That’s not how to pronounce his name.”

• Whenever it occurs to you. You can start the process by saying, “Learn to pronounce Reagann Tsuki’s name” or “Learn to pronounce my mom’s name.”

• In Contacts. Open somebody’s “card” in Contacts; start Siri and say, “Learn to pronounce her name.”

In each case, with tremendous courtesy, Siri walks you through the process of teaching her the correct pronunciation. She offers you up to three buttons; each triggers a different pronunciation. Tap Select next to the correct one (or tap Tell Siri again if none of the three is correct).

By the end of the process, Siri knows two things: how to say that person’s name aloud, and how to recognize that name when you say it.

Siri Settings

In Settings→Siri, you can fiddle with several Siri settings:

• On/Off. If you turn Siri off, you can’t command your iPhone. Nor can you dictate text; the button disappears from the keyboard. You can speak only to call (“Dial 212-556-1000”) and to control music playback (for example, “Play U2” or “Next track”). In essence, you’ve just turned your modern iPhone into an iPhone 4.

  Note

  And why would anyone turn off Siri? One reason: Using Siri involves transmitting a lot of data to Apple, which gives some people the privacy willies. Apple collects everything you say to Siri, your song and playlist names, plus all the names in Contacts (so that Siri can recognize them when you refer to them).

• Access on Lock Screen. Turns off Siri when the phone is locked.

• Allow “Hey Siri.”. If you’re annoyed to find Siri perking up to take requests too often, you can turn her listening off here.

• Language. What language do you want Siri to speak and recognize? The options here include 41 languages and dialects, including English in nine flavors (Australian, British, Canadian, Indian, and so on).

• Siri Voice. That’s right, kids: Siri can have either a man’s voice or a woman’s voice—and she (or he) can speak in a selection of accents. Even if you’re American, it’s fun to give Siri a cute Australian accent.

• Voice Feedback. Always On: Siri always replies to queries with a synthesized voice (in addition to a text response). Hands-Free Only: You’re telling Siri not to bother speaking when you’re looking at the screen and can read the responses for yourself. She’ll speak only if you’re on speakerphone, using a headset, listening through your car’s Bluetooth system, and so on. Control with Ring Switch: Siri speaks her answers only when the phone isn’t silenced (Silencer Switch, Volume Keys).

• My Info. Siri needs to know which card in Contacts contains your information and lists your relationships. That’s how she’s able to respond to queries like “Call my mom,” “Remind me to shower when I get home,” and so on.

  Note

  The “Raise to Speak” option once found on this screen is gone. It was responsible for making Siri listen for a command whenever you raised the phone to your head—handy for a little privacy, but not utterly reliable. It was replaced by “Hey Siri” and the walkie-talkie feature described in Sending Messages.

• App Support. Here’s the list of Siri-compatible apps. Turn them on or off at will.