HOW TO Make Siri work for you

1 Activate Hey Siri

It’s much more convenient to verbally request Siri than to have to press the side button. Tap Settings, then Siri & Search. Toggle the switch on for ‘Listen for “Hey Siri”’. Siri will now respond when you say “Hey Siri”.

2 Choose call alerts

Siri can tell you who is calling, but you don’t always want that, so you can specify when it happens. In Siri & Search, tap Announce Calls and choose one of the three options, such as Headphones Only or Headphones & Car.

3 Silence Siri

If you don’t want Siri to speak when your iPhone is on silent, go to Settings > Siri & Search, then tap Siri Responses. Tap When Silent Mode Is Off. Siri will now not speak, though will still work, when Silent Mode is on.

4 Display text

If you want to show the text of what Siri says as captions, or see a transcript of what you say when your speaking to Siri, go to Settings > Siri & Search > Siri Responses and turn on Always Show Siri Captions or Always Show Speech.

5 Get sharing suggestions

Some of the most useful suggestions are those that appear when tapping a share sheet. To activate them, go to Settings > Siri & Search and in the Suggestions From Apple section, turn Show When Sharing on.

6 More suggestions

Siri can also suggest apps and tasks when you activate Spotlight by tapping in the search box or suggest apps by highlighting them in App Library. In Settings > Siri & Search, toggle ‘Show in App Library & Spotlight’ to on.

7 Manage apps

If you don’t want some apps to appear in Siri Suggestions, go to Siri & Search and scroll down to the apps section. Tap on an app and use the options there to control how Siri Suggestions work with the app, if at all.

8 Fix pronunciation

If Siri gets one of your contacts’ names wrong, you can fix it. Launch the Contacts app and find the contact, then tap Edit. Choose Add Field, then ‘Pronunciation first name’. Type a phonetic version of the person’s name.

9 Type to Siri

If you prefer to type Siri commands rather than speak them, perhaps if you use an iPad in an office or public space like a coffee shop, tap Settings then Accessibility. Tap Siri and then toggle the switch next to ‘Type to Siri’ to on.

10 Retrain Siri

If Siri frequently has trouble understanding you, you can retrain it. Go to Settings > Siri & Search and toggle ‘Listen for “Hey Siri”’ to off and then on again. You will be prompted to speak phrases to help Siri understand you.

11 Change Siri’s voice

If you’re bored of hearing the same voice every time you use Siri, you can change it. In Settings > Siri & Search, tap Siri Voice. Tap a voice and a variation and, if you like it, tap the back arrow to select it. If not, try another.

12 Share with Siri

If you’re reading a story in News, listening to a track in Music, or viewing a photo in Photos, you can share it using Siri. Just say ‘Hey Siri, share this with [name]’ where [name] is the name of the person you want to share it with.