Whether you are a new iPhone user or you’ve been using it for a while, you might have got acquainted with your phone’s voice-controlled digital assistant, Siri. If you have tried working with Siri, chances are that you have felt frustrated by the mistakes it makes. However, you shouldn’t be too quick to dismiss her. Siri is a useful and time-saving tool which can help you to get things done or to find information. But you should know the proper commands to avoid the frustration. Here are some Siri tips & tricks which help you to have a better virtual assistant.
Siri tips and tricks
Apple company is always continuing to make improvements into Siri and adding features. And with all its modifications in iOS 11, Siri is now a more natural-sounding assistant. From composing your text messages to being your personal DJ, Siri can do a number of useful tasks to make your life easier. In fact, there are cool things Siri can do that may even surprise you. Here are a number of Siri tips which help you to make it a better personal assistant.
Find out what Siri can do
If you have just got your iPhone, it is helpful to know what Siri can do and what she can’t do. To do so, just say “Hey Siri” or hold down the home button and say “What can you do?”. Siri will come up with a number of questions and commands that she can understand. Also, when you activated Siri, you can tap on the question mark on the left to get the same results.
Correct Siri mistakes
While you are using Siri, you have probably faced the situation in which Siri doesn’t understand what you say or makes mistakes. It can be because of ambient sound or any other reason. But to better help her understand you in the future, it is recommended that you correct her. To do so, swipe down to reveal your initial command and then use “Tap to edit” option to help Siri understand your command and come up with a new answer.
Teach Siri how to spell names and define your relationships
One of the most handy Siri tips is to teach her how to spell names. This will also save you from the frustration of Siri not recognising your contacts. Siri might mangle your contacts while trying to pronounce names and last names. So if Siri pronounces any of your contacts in a wrong way, just say “That’s not how you pronounce his/her name.” Siri will then ask you how to pronounce their first and last name and give you three different options to choose from. Once you’ve made your choice, Siri will use that pronunciation from then on.
In addition, you can define your relationships for Siri. For example, instead of saying “Call Leonardo Dicaprio”, you can say “Call my husband”. To do so, say a command like “Text my husband,” then Siri will ask you, “What is your husband’s name?” Or you can say, “Leonardo Dicaprio is my husband” and Siri will add that relationship to her records.
Make location-based reminders with Siri
Instead of opening your Reminders app and typing down all the information, you can just ask Siri to do it for you. You can for example tell Siri “Remind me to pick up my son from school when I leave work”. But you will need to define your son’s school and your work address in your address book and you should definitely keep location services on.
Tweet or update Facebook status with Siri
Did you know that you can use Siri to tweet? This is an extremely handy Siri tip which saves you from the trouble of opening Twitter app, typing down your tweet and posting it. Just tell Siri “Tweet [insert tweet here]” or “Update Facebook [your message here].” Siri also understands hashtags. You can for example say, “Tweet go Brazil exclamation point hashtag worldcup” and the result will be: Go Brazil! #worldcup
Siri can help you make decisions
Having trouble making a decision? You can ask Siri for help. Simply ask Siri to, “Flip a coin,” “Roll the dice,” or “Pick a number.” The latter choose a number by default betwenn 1 and 100, but you can specify any range.
Make speakerphone calls with Siri
Siri is an extremely handy tool especially when you want to do things with your phone while you are driving. So, instead of picking up your phone and opening your Contacts to try to call someone, you can just ask Siri to make the call. So just say “Call [person’s name] using speakerphone.” If you have activated Hey Siri before, you can activate Siri by the command first and make the call.
Ask Siri to make dinner reservations for you
If you’re planning to go out for dinner, you can tell Siri, “Make a dinner reservation for four tonight at 8 p.m.” Siri will then show you a list of restaurants that have tables for four available at that time. Tap the one you want. If you have apps like OpenTable installed, Siri will make the reservation for you. Otherwise, Siri will give you the restaurant number to call.
Learn what song is playing and control music playback
It may have happened to you that a song comes on the radio and you would want to what the song is. Fortunately, Siri comes with a built-in support for Shazam, which means it can answer that question for you. Just ask the virtual assistant “What song is this?” or “Who sings this?” for the answer. And yes, if the song is available through iTunes, Siri will display it.
Also, you can ask Siri to play specific songs, albums, or artists, genre or playlist, to pause and resume, and to skip a track. For example, you can say, “Play Beethoven’s Fifth” or “Play ‘Bad blood’ by Taylor Swift” or “Play some classic rock music.”
Some other useful Siri tips
The tips I mentioned above were only a few things that Siri can do for you. I recommend that you go on to explore what else Siri can do for you. Here is an overview of other Siri tips you need to know.
- Use Siri as a calculator e.g. “65 plus 29 plus 45.6”
- Convert measurements and currencies
- Find out about flights
- Learn about movies
- Find and launch specific apps
- Create and edit calendar events
- Search for photos by time or location
- Search for sports information
- Check stock prices
- Set an alarm or timer
- Add punctuation to emails and messages
- Read out tweets or notifications
