Hey Siri on the iPhone 6s

Siri’s always listening, but you can stop it without disabling it

The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus have a big advantage where Siri is concerned. On those models, the ability to interact with the voice-controlled assistant by saying “Hey Siri” doesn’t require the iPhone to be connected to an external power supply. (Fitting a battery case to older models gives the same result.) This makes Siri more convenient when you need to, say, add something to your shopping list and your phone is across the room.

However, there will be times when you don’t want Siri to listen – many of us have, at some point, said something that the handset thinks sounds like “Hey Siri”, even if you know those definitely aren’t the words you spoke. There’s also the risk that someone nearby might utter the phrase, maybe even as a joke, causing your phone to respond; the short training sequence that Siri undergoes when you enable “Hey Siri” states it’ll help Siri to recognise your voice when you say the magic words – but that isn’t to say it’ll pair Siri to only respond to you.

The way to ensure no scenario of this kind can play out is, quite simply to lie your iPhone 6s or 6s Plus face down.