Speaking to Siri

First built into the OS in iOS 5 (it was a third-party app before that), Siri has evolved from a flaky beta into a usually reliable voice-activated personal assistant ①.

① Once you’ve begun a conversation with Siri, you see Siri’s response plus a microphone button. You can tap the microphone button to continue the conversation, but the Home button works too.

Summoning Siri

Hold down the Home button.
When you hear a chime and see “What can I help you with?” Siri is listening.
Release the Home button (or gain more control by continuing to hold it down).
Speak ②. Say something like, “How are you doing today?”

② To activate Siri, press and hold the Home button. You can ask Siri almost anything.
Be quiet (and if you are still holding the Home button, release it).

Note: All devices that can run iOS 8 can run Siri, except for the iPad 2.

Setting up Siri

Visit Settings > General > Siri to access the Siri screen. If the Siri switch is not on, turn it on.

Choose a Language

You can change Siri’s language. On the Siri settings screen, tap Language. For example, if you live in Canada and mainly speak English, you can choose a completely different language, such as French (Canada) or Korean, or you can try another English accent, such as Australian.

Keep in mind that Siri doesn’t just speak in a different language or dialect; Siri expects you to speak that way too! So if you like listening to Siri with an Australian accent, beware that your voice will be recognized as though you’re speaking with a similar accent.

Choose a Gender for Siri

To change Siri’s apparent gender, go to Settings > General > Siri > Voice Gender.

Introduce Yourself

You can tell Siri, “Take me home,” to get directions to your house, but first, Siri must know who you are.

Tap Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > My Info; then choose your contact entry from the list. If you don’t have one, make one in the Contacts app.

To check who Siri thinks you are, you can ask “Who am I?

Introduce Your Family

With Siri, you can refer to people by relationship. For example, I can tell Siri to “call my wife” instead of “call Hannah Centers.” You can teach Siri the identity of your mother, spouse, father, parent, brother, sister, and more.

To set this up, make sure you have a card for the person in the Contacts app. If you don’t, make one by tapping the plus + button at the upper right of the main Contacts screen (clear the Search field if you don’t see a +).

With the card created, do one of the following:

Tell Siri: Invoke Siri and tell her about the relationship. For example, I can say, “Hannah Centers is my wife”; after confirmation, that relationship is set.
Tell the Contacts app: Open your card in Contacts, tap Edit in the upper right, scroll down, tap “add related name,” tap the default relationship to pick the desired relationship, tap the info icon to select the person’s card, and tap Done.

New! More Siri Options

See what you’re saying: Siri now displays words as you say them, instead of waiting until you finish speaking.
Hands-free: Siri can be used hands-free by saying, “Hey Siri,” but this requires two conditions. First, your device must be plugged in to a power source. Second, allow “Hey Siri” must be on in Settings > General > Siri.
Song identification: The Shazam song identification service is integrated with Siri. While a song is playing, activate Siri and ask what song is playing. If Siri finds a match, you see the name of the song, the artist, and a button to buy the song in the iTunes Store.
Search Apple’s media stores: Try saying “search the App Store for Angry Birds” or “search the iBooks Store for Steve Jobs.”

Five Useful Siri Commands

Siri understands dozens of commands. Here are five of the most useful.

Set an alarm: There are several ways to set an alarm. You can say, “Set an alarm for 6 A.M.” before bed ③. Or when you lie down for a nap, you can say, “Wake me in 30 minutes.” You can also say, “Delete my alarm,” to view a list of alarms to delete.

③ Siri can wake you up in the morning…

Set a timer: I use this all the time in the kitchen. Tell Siri to set a timer for however many hours, minutes, or seconds you need ④. For example, “Set a timer for 5 minutes.”

④ …tell you when the cake is done…

Remind me to…: You can tell Siri to remind you of things, like “Remind met to take the trash out Tuesday night,” but what I’ve found even more useful is telling Siri to remind me to do a task when I reach or leave a destination ⑤. For example, “Remind me to change the cat litter when I get home,” or “Remind me to fill up the gas tank when I leave.”

⑤ …remind you to change the cat litter when you get home…

Call: Of course you can use Siri to place phone calls, which is especially handy while driving ⑥. Just say “Call a contact’s name,” to initiate a call (if your contact has multiple phone numbers, Siri will ask you which one to call—or you can preempt that step by saying “Call Jane Smith’s iPhone.”). If you’ve configured relationships, as explained above, you can instead say, “Call my mom,” or “Call my spouse.”

⑥ …or call your significant other. Siri can do lots of things; don’t be afraid to experiment!

Open sesame: Siri can open apps for you. Just say “Open,” and then the app name. For example, if I want to see if it’s going to rain, I can say, “Open Dark Sky.”

Third-party Apps for Siri

Apple doesn’t openly offer developers an API to integrate their apps with Siri, but a handful of third-party apps are integrated with Siri. Here are a few examples:

Fandango: Siri can not only tell you local movie showtimes, but also help you buy movie tickets ⑦. To purchase tickets, you must install the free Fandango Movies app.

⑦ Siri can tell you movie showtimes, and if the Fandango Movies app is installed, you can buy tickets.

OpenTable: Siri can help you to book the hottest table in town, but to do so, you must install the free OpenTable app.
Yahoo Sports: Out of the box, Siri has access to all kinds of fun sports knowledge. You can ask, “When is the next NFL game?” or “Who is taller: Kobe or LeBron?” If the free Yahoo Sports app is installed, you can even tap the Yahoo logo to open the app for more info ⑧.

⑧ Siri can answer nearly any sports question. Tap the Yahoo logo (shown at lower right) to open that tidbit in the Yahoo Sports app.

Yelp: Siri can provide Yelp reviews for restaurants, hotels, and other venues. For instance, I can say, “What are the reviews for “Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack” in Nashville, Tennessee?” and Siri will tell me how many stars Prince’s has on Yelp. Or, for a local review, try “Where can I find a cup of coffee nearby?” But if you want to tap a listing to read the reviews, you must have installed the free Yelp app.

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