Hey, Siri! What more can you do for me? Find your friends
Plenty, especially when you should be hands free
By now you’re well aware of Apple’s Siri, the voice-activated personal assistant on iPhone and other devices.
You probably know about Siri’s funny responses to questions like “What’s the meaning of life?” or “Are you alive?” And you may have complained when the assistant stumbles.
This column won’t show you how to make Siri fault-proof. But it will help you get more out of it, particularly when you’re in situations where you couldn’t or shouldn’t be using your hands.
While you can set Siri as a male or female voice, I have mine set to female, so I’ll refer to the program as “her.”
Summoning Siri
Initiating Siri varies on the device. It’s built into iOS devices — iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch — as well as watchOS (Apple Watch), macOS (Macbook), and HomePod.
To start asking, hold down the Home button of iPhone (except for iPhone X), iPad and iPod touch, or you can initiate the hands-free “Hey, Siri” verbal command, before you ask a question or give a command.
Like HomePod, you can verbally say “Hey, Siri” on iPhone X (which doesn’t have a Home button) or physically activate your assistant by holding down the big Side button for two seconds.
On Apple Watch, you can say “Hey, Siri,” or press and hold the Digital Crown to activate Siri. On Macbook, you can verbally say “Hey, Siri,” or click the Siri icon in the menu bar, Dock or Touch Bar, or press and hold the Command key and space bar until Siri responds.
And a word on getting the most of your assistant: You can speak fast, but speak clearly. A quieter environment is better, but so long as you’re somewhat near the microphone of your device, Siri can hear (and obey) you.
When you’re dictating a message, remember you need to say punctuation, like “period,” “comma,” “question mark” or “exclamation point.”
Breeze through emails
Most Siri users who dictate emails probably say something like “Email Mike Smith,” and then Siri will ask you “What’s the subject of the email?” and after you respond, she’ll ask you about the body of the email. This back-andforth can take a long time.
Instead, did you know you can instruct Siri to send an email, and have her type out the subject line and body of the email — all in one fell swoop?
For example, say “Remind my wife about the party and say don’t forget to pick up a bottle of red wine tonight.” Siri will know who your spouse is (or will ask you once) and place that in the To: field, and because you said “about” the party, Siri knows you want that in the Subject (Re:) field. You also said “and say,” which places words you said after that into the body of the email. This will all save you time.
Reminders by location
It’s a breeze to ask Siri to remind you of something by time — like “tomorrow at 10 a.m., remind me to call the dentist to book an appointment” — but you can set reminders by location, too.
For example, instruct Siri to do something like this: “Remind me to call Mom when I leave here.” Whenever you leave wherever you are, Siri will remind you to call your mom. Your iPhone’s integrated GPS means it’s location-aware.
Alternatively, you can say “Remind me to take out the recycling when I get home.” Because Siri knows where home is (you might be asked to tell Siri this info once), you won’t be reminded of the chore until you pull into the driveway.
Location data needs to be enabled, as you might expect. Plus, Siri knows where “home” is because you’ve told her (required once) or your address has been typed into your Contacts page. Similarly, you’ll need to edit your own Contacts entry to tell Siri where work is, if you like, and who family members are.
Siri can read your texts
This could be handy if you’re multitasking, and you want to keep focused on the task at hand. Simply say something like “Siri, read my texts.” After Siri reads a message to you, you can say something like “Reply saying that’s an excellent idea, thanks” or “Tell her I’ll be five minutes late but to grab a table.”
You can also ask Siri something like “Do I have any texts from Mary?” — and Siri will find them if they exist.
Post to Facebook, Twitter
To post a status update to Facebook via Siri, activate your personal assistant and say the words “Post to Facebook,” followed by what you want posted to your site. For Twitter, the process is similar. Summon Siri and say “Post to Twitter,” followed by what you want to tweet out to the world. After Siri shows you what words you said — and be sure to review it — you can say “Yes” or “No” when you’re asked by Siri if it should be posted to Twitter.
It’s a verbal calculator, too
You might know Siri includes support from Wolfram Alpha and Wikipedia, and other sources, for a vast database of facts, definitions and even current pop culture references). Or perhaps you’ve had Siri play movie trailers ondemand.
But did you know you can also ask Siri to perform math problems? This comes in handy when you’re out with your friends at a restaurant and the bill comes. Let’s say the bill comes to $200 and there are three of you. You can ask Siri something like “What’s an 18% tip on $200, for three people?” and Siri will tell you everyone owes $12.
If you’re not familiar with the Find My Friends app, it taps into your iPhone’s GPS to provide your geographical location to people you choose to share this information with, such as a partner, kids or friends. After you add consenting people to your list, you can see their whereabouts on a map (each person represented by a colored orb) and get the street addresses if you want.
Ask Siri “Where are my friends?” The app will open, and you’ll see who’s around and how far they are from you. Now you can send someone a message.
You can also ask Siri something like “Is my wife at home?” or “Where’s Bob Glass?” or “Find my sister.”
Control smart home devices
So long as you’re on the same wireless network as your Apple HomeKitenabled smart home devices — such as a Wi-Fi thermostat, video camera, LED lights or smart wall plugs — you can use your voice to control them all. Some devices work via short-range Bluetooth.
Book restaurant reservations
The OpenTable or Yelp app must be installed on your device, and you must be signed into your account. Then you can ask Siri for a reservation at a particular restaurant (and time), a particular kind of cuisine, in a specific city — or let Siri recommend something by simply saying, “Book a reservation for four on Wednesday night” or “Book me a reservation for 6:30 p.m. tonight in Troy, Michigan.”
Ask Siri something like “Make a reservation for two at a Thai restaurant tonight.” Siri will show you a list of restaurants that meet your criteria, show whether they have tables available and (if so) at what time. Simply tap one of the selections to review details, and then tap Make Reservation to open the OpenTable or Yelp app on your iDevice.