Siri is a big part of iOS 7, but many iPhone and iPad owners don’t know everything that the personal assistant is capable of. After using Siri for a few year’s we discovered a collection of hidden Siri features that only come to light when you get past the basics of setting an alarm and making a phone call.
It’s true that Siri is not always reliable thanks to connectivity issues, but when it comes down to it there is a lot that Siri can do on the iPhone and iPad even with the occasional miss.
These hidden Siri features are not locked behind a special code and there is no need to use the iOS 7 jailbreak to unlock them. No, these Siri features are available to everyone on iOS 7, but most users have no clue that these features exist, or how to use them.
Here is a look at 41 hidden Siri features to help you do more.
In this look at 40+ hidden Siri features we’ll dive deep into the personal assistant to show users the lesser known tasks Siri is capable of. While Siri users will surely know a few things on this list already, we expect everyone will learn a few tricks.
We’ll start with a few Siri tricks that users are more likely to know and move into the lesser known.
Hidden Siri Features
The eight minute video below walks through these Siri features that users will find on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch 5th generation. These features can help you do more with Siri and avoid typing and even unlocking your iPhone in some cases.
1. Turn Bluetooth Off
Use Siri to turn Bluetooth and other settings like WiFi on and off simply by saying, “Turn Bluetooth Off.” You can reverse this by saying “Turn Bluetooth On.” Simple, but very handy.
2. Get Voice Feedback All the Time
If you want Siri to read back your messages before sending them and talk back to you when you ask the service to do something go to Settings -?General -> Siri -> Voice Feedback -> On. Now Siri will talk whenever you ask for something. You can also choose to only hear this when using a handsfree device.
3. Pick a New Siri Voice
This is one that many users know, but for iPhone and iPad users that gave up on finding a new Siri voice long ago, it is now an easy to change option. Just go into the same settings as above and instead of choosing a new language like you may have on iOS 6, change the gender to get a new voice.
4. Check Sports Scores
Whenever you need to know who is winning a major league or college game for popular sports just ask Siri what the score is for the team name, or ask when the team plays next to get ready to watch.
5. Book a Date or Table
Siri connects to Open Table and Yelp to find good restaurants and when possible can help find open tables for a reservation by asking, ” Find a table for two at an Italian Restaurant Friday at 7PM in Toledo, OH. You can skip the city name if you are in the city you want to go to dinner in.
6. Open Favorite Apps
For now you cannot control other apps like Spotify with Siri, but you can open the app which makes using it that much easier. This is handy to use while at a stoplight or when walking to your car. Use Siri to open the app and get it ready so you can tap on a playlist and get going.
7. Post to Facebook and Twitter
The Notification Center no longer includes Tweet and Post actions, but users can still open Siri and say, “Post to Facebook” or “Post to Twitter” and tell Siri what you would like posted to the social networks.
8. Say Change It
If Siri does not understand the time, dat or message you tell it for a reminder, text, email or other action simply say, “Change it” to change the main part of the action or “change the date” or “change the time” to alter those aspects. Much easier than starting from scratch.
9. Set Reminders for Locations
Once Siri knows where you live and work you can tell the assistant to remind you to do something when you get to a location. Just say, “Remind me to grab the eggs when I get home.” Or, if you need to make sure you take something when you leave a location say, “Remind me to take the report when I leave.” This is handy for locations like hotels or meetings. If you say a location and Siri doesn’t know it, like Work, you can fill n the details.
10. Send a Message to a Nickname
Say, “Send a Message to my wife” to send a message to the contact in as a relationship of wife. You can make any contact a relationship from wife or girlfriend to accountant, mechanic or Mom. Just say, “Contact name is my relationship” and it is saved.
11. Convert Measurements
Need to convert gallons to cups or cups to ounces? How about miles to kilometers or inches to centimeters? Say, “How many x are in y?” and Siri can convert the measurements for you.
12. Find Out How Long Until Your Arrive
If you are using the iPhone for navigation and you need to know how long you have left to get to a location simply ask Siri, “What’s my ETA” and she will provide an estimate. This is handy while driving especially if the route changes or traffic is worse than anticipated.
13. Search for Recent Tweets
If you want to know what someone is tweeting about without opening up Twitter, just say, ” What is person’s name saying?” You can also ask what a brand or website is saying and it will show you their recent tweets.
14. Teach Siri How to Pronounce Names
If Siri constantly butchers names of your contacts simply say “Learn how to pronounce contact name.” When prompted pronounce the first name and then pick an option and then the last name and pick an option.
15. Search Your Notes
Say, “Find my note about keyword” and Siri will show any notes in the Notes app with that topic in the title or in the text of the note. Perfect for finding a note you need fast.
16. Check Your Flight Status
If you need to know if your flight is on time you can say, “Check the Status of Flight Delta 3290″ and Siri will let you know if it is on time or delayed.
17. Schedule a Meeting with a Contact
If you tell Siri to “Schedule a meeting with my accountant.” The app can schedule the meeting and send and invite to the contact of that relationship. This works with other relationships and with names as well.
18. Control Music and iTunes Radio
Tell Siri you want to listen to music and the app can start playing your iTunes library or tell Siri you want to hear a specific artist and the iPhone will start playing the Beatles for example. Users can also tell iTunes Radio to play a specific station by saying, “Play Kaskade radio.”
19. Find Out When Holidays Are
Keeping track of holidays that aren’t always on the same day every year is tough, but you can ask Siri, “When is Easter?” or any othe rholiday to hear the date and day of the week for the holiday.
20. Check the Amount of Calories in Food
If you need a rough estimate of the calories in food you can ask Siri, “How many calories are in a fish sandwich?” or any other food item. Siri can also check how many calories are in a specific food item like a Big Mac.
21. Calculate the Tip
Instead of launching the calculator, just ask Siri” How much is a 20% tip on a $35.76 bill?” The service calculates the amount and shows you the amount to tip, and the total amount so you don’t have to do any addition.
Do more with your iPhone or iPad using Siri.
22. Delete All Alarms
Say, “Delete All Alarms” to clear out the mess of alarms you’ve accumulated since owning the iPhone. If you just want to turn them all off, say, “Turn off all alarms.”
23. Find Airplanes Flying Above
Ask Siri “What airplanes are above me?” and you’ll see a list of planes flying overhead and a map to help identify them.
24. Solve Math Problems
If you need to perform more complicated math calculations like adding fractions and decimals or finding square roots and more just ask Siri and you’ll likely get an answer faster than grabbing your calculator.
25. Get Specific Sports Player Info
Ask Siri when two professional sports players play next or who is taller to settle a bet, or make plans to watch a major rivalry. Just use the player names when asking your questions.
26. Add an Item to a Specific Reminder List
You can add milk to the grocery list in Reminders or add a to do item to your work list by naming the list when you tell Siri. So say, “Add Milk to my Grocery List.”
27. Set Reminders for a Date
If you need to remember to do something on a holiday or other known date like Easter. You can also set reminders on a regular schedule by saying, “Remind me to call grandma on the first Thursday of every month.” or “Remind me to take the trash out every other Wednesday.”
28. Check the Number of Days Between Dates
Ask Siri “How many days until March 28th?” or “How many days between January 6th and June 15th? and you can learn exactly how many days are between these dates.
29. Find Your Friends
If you use Find My Friends you can say, “Where is Chad?” or “Find my wife.” to locate friends that agree to share information with you. You’ll need the Find My Friends app and to set up sharing before this will work.
30. Flip a Coin or Roll Dice
If you need to make a choice or just need a random number, you can say, “Flip a coin” or “Roll the dice” and Siri will give you heads or tails or with dice a set of numbers.
31. Open Specific Settings
Instead of tapping through multiple settings screens say, “Open Siri Settings.” or similar to quickly jump to a specific settings page to make changes.
32. Find the Best and Worst Sports Teams
If you want to know the worst team in the NFL or the best NBA team, simply ask “who is the worst NFL team?” and you’ll hear the answer and see a list of the full ranking.
33. Find the Time in Another City
If you need to check the time in another city before calling a friend or coworker, ask Siri “What time is it in LA?” and you’ll see and hear the time as well as how many hours ahead or behind they are.
34. Convert Currency
If you are traveling or just need to convert the price of something you see online, you can ask Siri “How much is 45 Dollars in Pounds?” and you’ll see and hear an answer.
35. Move a Meeting in a Snap
If you need to change a meeting you don’t need to open your calendar. Instead just say, “Move my 10:30 to 1.” and Siri will handle the rest. You can also ask, “What’s my day look like?” to hear your schedule.
36. Find Movies Playing at Your Favorite Theater
If you want to know what movies are playing at a specific theater, perhaps the cheap one or the really fancy one, use the name in your search. “What’s playing at the Shannon? shows the movies playing at a local first run theater with $3 tickets! And doesn’t include the super expensive Cinemark that is closer.
37. Ask for Walking Directions
You can set your iPhone to always give walking directions, but if just need them for one trip you can ask Siri to, “Get walking directions to Paul’s Ice Cream Shop.” This is handy when traveling in a bigger city where you plan to walk form place to place.
38. Find the Best Restaurant Nearby
Sometimes you want the best food available, and with Siri it’s easy. Say, “Find the best asian food around.” or ask for the best burger and Siri will search Yelp to help find the best place to get lunch or dinner.
39. Never Forget with Siri and Evernote
If you use Evernote you can send an email using Siri to make sure you never forget. Set up a contact for Evernote and enter your unique Evernote email address. When you have something you need to remember and iOS notes won’t cut it say, Send an email to Evernote and speak the details you need to remember.
40. Activate Siri with Headphones or Bluetooth
This is something many users pick up on early, but not everyone knows that you can use Siri by pressing a button on some Bluetooth headsets and by holding the middle button on iPhone ready headphones. This makes handsfree use much easier and is also handy while working out.
41. Say, Take a Picture
If you don’t want to say, “Open the camera.” and wait to choose the app you want, just say, “Take a Picture.” and Siri will open the stock iPhone camera so you can take a picture with no waiting.
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