Send text messages
Siri’s voice recognition works brilliantly when it comes to dictation, and saying “Send a text to my mum” works just as well as the blunter “text my wife”. When you’ve finished speaking, Siri will ask if you’re ready to send your message and show what it’
in question, and then give you three pronunciation options. Play them all, then choose the one that’s closest to reality to avoid future blunders.
Make Siri pay attention to you for longer
Sometimes you’ll pause for thought while speaking to Siri and the system will decide you’ve finished speaking. Environments with lots of background noise – or music – can cause similar problems. Get round this by holding the Home button down until you’ve finished speaking, and only then release it. Voila: Siri won’t interrupt even if you fall silent for a moment.
Never dig through the Settings app again
The settings app on iOS devices has become convoluted over the years, but help is at hand. Say you want to change your Instagram settings – Siri can take you straight to them. Similarly, giving commands such as “Turn on Do Not Disturb” or “Turn on Bluetooth” often achieves a result faster than is possible by hand.
Do some maths
Quick: what’s 20 percent of £66? Congratulations: you’re better at maths than the MacFormat team. For the non-mathematical, Siri can do simple sums. Asking Siri to work out percentages is useful for figuring out tips, or it can be a fast, if faintly ostentatious, way of splitting a restaurant bill.
Unleash Siri’s inner critic
Siri does a passable Barry Norman impression. Ask it if a film is any good and it will give you its Rotten Tomatoes rating, as well as the verdicts of a few film critics. It’s best to provide Siri with some context so it knows you’re talking about a movie – a question like “Is the movie Heat any good?” yields better results than “Is Heat any good?”
Change what Siri calls you
If your first name in your card in the Contacts app is just your initials, that’s what Siri will call you. Or, if your full name is Steven, say, but you prefer Steve, you might never feel like Siri really cares. Changing the way it addresses you is easy, though: instructions like “Call me Dave” (and so on) work, but if you’d prefer a quick chuckle, ask Siri to call you Sir, Madam or some other grand-sounding honorific instead.