Siri

Siri does more than ever. Even before you ask.

581 'Siri' stories July 2011 - December 2018

See All Stories

Siri is Apple’s personal assistant technology that debuted in 2011 with the iPhone 4S. Apple purchased Siri in 2010. At the time, it was a dedicated app on the iPhone. When it became built into the iPhone, it could do basic things like play music and make phone calls.

Now, it can do things like integrate with third-party messaging apps. payments, ride-sharing service, calling app, set timers, get directions, add reminders, start TV shows on the Apple TV, make language translations, search for photos, open documents, interact with your smart home though HomeKit, and a lot more.

In iOS 12, it became integrated into more third-party apps through Shortcuts. Companies can build their own interactions for the service to work with.

Compatible Devices

Siri Remote for Apple TV

Siri
HomePod

PSA: Here’s a quick and easy way to prep your HomePod for party season

Ben Lovejoy Dec 18 2018 - 6:57 am PT

Siri listening history

Any HomePod owner who has ever hosted a party will know that visiting family and friends love to tell the speakers what to play. Which is great fun during the party, but not so much fun when it comes to the effect on your Apple Music recommendations for weeks later …

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple details how the HomePod uses machine learning to ignore noisy surroundings for Siri requests

Benjamin Mayo Dec 3 2018 - 7:38 am PT

In the latest post on its machine learning blog, the Apple audio software engineering team explains the challenges of speech detection for smart speakers, and how it uses machine learning models running on the HomePod’s A8 chip to help improve far-field accuracy.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple set to attend major machine learning conference, highlights over 100 open ML jobs

Michael Potuck Nov 29 2018 - 8:22 am PT

Apple has today shared that it will be attending the 32nd Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS). Apple will have members of its ML team at a booth and notes it has many open positions as it works to build “a team of exceptional researchers and engineers.”

Expand
Expanding
Close

You can now say ‘Hey Siri, Ok Google’ to use Google Assistant on the iPhone …

Ben Lovejoy Nov 21 2018 - 5:09 am PT

OK Google iPhone

An update to the Google Assistant iOS app means that you can now issue ‘Ok Google’ commands on your iPhone – albeit having to invoke Siri first …

Expand
Expanding
Close

Volkswagen vehicles get Siri Shortcuts and voice control to unlock, flash lights, check mileage, more

Michael Potuck Nov 12 2018 - 8:32 am PT

Volkswagen is out with an update to its Car-Net iOS app that brings Siri voice control and Siri Shortcuts to a handful of useful features.

Expand
Expanding
Close

How to invoke Siri on iPad Pro

Peter Cao Nov 9 2018 - 12:01 am PT

Siri helps you get things done by asking for it. With recent revisions iOS devices, the method in which you invoke Siri has changed. Follow along to learn how to invoke Siri on iPad Pro….

Expand
Expanding
Close

Gorgeous iOS concept imagines refreshed Siri, Dock, and multitasking for 2018 iPad Pro models

Michael Potuck Oct 25 2018 - 11:40 am PT

A couple of months ago, we saw a beautiful concept from Kévin Eugène that reimagined Siri for iPhone with a new intuitive and much less intrusive design that ditched the current full screen takeover. Today, he’s shared a super sharp new concept for a redesigned Siri, Slide Over, multitasking, and Dock for the upcoming new iPad Pro models. Head below to check it out!

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple Watch: How to add third-party apps to Siri Watch face

Peter Cao Oct 2 2018 - 12:01 am PT

With the recent release of watchOS 5, users are now able to add information from third-party apps to the Siri Watch face. This means you can add information such as Carrot Weather, or calendar information from Fantastical.

Follow along to learn how….

Expand
Expanding
Close

Siri waveform animation on Apple Watch Series 4 responds dynamically to the sound of your voice

Benjamin Mayo Sep 21 2018 - 11:06 am PT

siri apple watch

The waveform in the Siri interface on Apple Watch Series 4 works differently to how Siri behaves on other devices. It now animates the waveform in sync with changes in volume, like how Siri on iPhone works. Previous watches were much cruder.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Siri
HomePod

Almost a third of smart speaker owners using them to control smart home devices

Ben Lovejoy Sep 10 2018 - 7:03 am PT

A new Adobe survey on the use of voice assistants unsurprisingly finds that usage is greatest among those who own a smart speaker like HomePod, and that more than two-thirds of usage is playing music.

It does, though, give some insights into other ways smart speaker owners are using their devices, including what the firm categorizes as ’emerging usage’ …

Expand
Expanding
Close

Smart Home Diary: An update to our blinds revealing that Alexa is no smarter than Siri

Ben Lovejoy Sep 7 2018 - 7:07 am PT

I’ve played around a bit with Alexa, and even considered buying an Echo Dot or two before the launch of HomePod, but in the end decided to wait it out.

However, while Hunter Douglas is still promising HomeKit support for our Luxaflex Duette blinds, and was expecting to get there by now, certification has been delayed until later in the year. In the meantime, it’s gone ahead with the launch of the new bridge which brings voice control to the blinds – but so far only for Alexa and Google Home …

Expand
Expanding
Close

How-to
Siri

iPhone: How to customize the way you trigger Siri

Peter Cao Sep 6 2018 - 12:01 am PT

Most people understand that pressing and holding the Home button on an iPhone (or Side button on iPhone X), will trigger Siri. However, there are other ways to trigger Siri, including hands-free.

Follow along to learn how to use different trigger methods for Siri….

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple patent (slightly) hints at Siri being able to recognize voices to personalize responses

Ben Lovejoy Aug 14 2018 - 7:35 am PT

One of the complaints many of us have about HomePod in particular is that it only supports a single user. So if anyone in the home asks HomePod to read their text messages, for example, Siri will always read those for the Apple ID used during set up …

Expand
Expanding
Close

Siri

How-to
Siri

How to customize Voice Feedback for Siri

Peter Cao Aug 13 2018 - 12:01 am PT

Siri is very useful at doing a handful of tasks. However, in certain scenarios it’s best to have Siri not give voice feedback, especially since using voice assistants in public is still considered weird.

Luckily, Apple adds an option for this in most of its platforms. Follow along to learn how to disable or customize voice feedback for Siri.

Expand
Expanding
Close

How-to
Siri

iPhone & iPad: How to customize Siri suggestions

Michael Potuck Aug 13 2018 - 12:00 am PT

As Siri has evolved in various ways over the years, suggestions from the smart assistant pop up across iOS in a variety of ways, often times by default. Follow along for how to customize Siri suggestions on your iPhone and iPad.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple explains how it uses U.S. Census data and ML to make Siri a local

Zac Hall Aug 9 2018 - 8:37 am PT

In Apple’s latest Machine Learning Journal entry, the Siri Speech Recognition Team shares an overview of the work behind improving Siri’s understanding of names for regional points-of-interest by incorporating the user’s location.

Based in part on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Apple has been able to tune Siri to better understand users based on where they are and what POIs they’re more likely to ask about.

Expand
Expanding
Close

iOS
Siri

Beautiful Siri concept imagines ‘parallel help’ ditching full-screen takeover, reinvents iOS multitasking

Michael Potuck Aug 3 2018 - 7:59 am PT

Shared in a Reddit post this morning, a gorgeous new iOS concept has detailed a whole new approach to Siri and multitasking that offers a look into how Apple could move away from the intrusive full-screen takeover design.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Poll: With Siri Shortcuts in iOS 12, do you think you’ll spend less time hands-on with apps?

Ben Lovejoy Aug 2 2018 - 5:16 am PT

MacWorld has an interesting piece entitled ‘How subscriptions, Siri, and Shortcuts in iOS 12 will forever change Apple’s App Store.’

Michael Simon’s suggestion is that Siri Shortcuts will enable us to use voice to do things which currently require us to get hands-on with apps, and that this will change the way in which we interact with our phones …

Expand
Expanding
Close

Patent troll SpeakWare sues Apple over Siri control of HomeKit devices

Ben Lovejoy Jul 27 2018 - 6:27 am PT

An apparent patent troll is suing Apple for claimed patent infringement over Siri control of HomeKit devices …

Expand
Expanding
Close

Siri

The last remaining Siri cofounder departs Apple, following its head of search

Chance Miller Jul 18 2018 - 8:05 pm PT

Siri lawsuit

According to a new report from The Information, the last remaining Siri cofounder has departed Apple. Tom Gruber, who served as the head of Siri’s Advanced Development group, has retired in an effort to “pursue personal interests in photography and ocean conservation,” the report says…

Expand
Expanding
Close

Siri
patents

Latest patent troll accuses Apple’s Siri of infringing a purchased patent

Ben Lovejoy Jul 12 2018 - 4:24 am PT

Siri lawsuit

Apple regularly faces lawsuits from patent trolls – companies whose only business is buying patents and then suing companies for alleged infringement of them.

We noted only yesterday one relating to the ‘Do Not Disturb While Driving’ feature introduced in iOS 11, and today there’s a report of a new claim that Siri infringes a similarly purchased patent …

Expand
Expanding
Close

How to update Sonos speakers for AirPlay 2 and HomeKit

Michael Potuck Jul 11 2018 - 1:21 pm PT

Today is the day that many Sonos and Apple users have been waiting for! This morning, Sonos has launched AirPlay 2 support via a software update that brings HomeKit and Siri functionality. Follow along for how to get your Sonos speakers up and running with AirPlay 2.

Expand
Expanding
Close

macOS: How to set a custom Siri keyboard shortcut

Peter Cao Jul 11 2018 - 12:00 am PT

While many will argue that Siri on macOS needs a lot of work, it is still useful in some situations. In certain scenarios, you’ll want to use a keyboard shortcut to invoke Siri, especially since macOS is not capable of doing hands-free “Hey Siri” just yet.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple groups Siri and Machine Learning teams, ex-Google hire Giannandrea named Chief of ML and AI

Michael Potuck Jul 10 2018 - 12:03 pm PT

As Apple hired away Google’s chief of search and AI this past spring, Tim Cook noted that he would be heading up the company’s AI and machine learning strategy. Now, we’re learning more about how some teams are being restructured in a way that could bring future improvements to Siri and more.

Expand
Expanding
Close