Many General SIRI Commands

New to SIRI but wondering how to get started? No problem! Here are some basic things that SIRI can do for you, along with example commands to get SIRI to do them. Everything has a learning curve, and even Apple's voice-activated assistant needs a clear request in order to give you what you need.

Getting SIRI to Listen

There are several ways to get SIRI to listen for a question or command.

1. If you have a Home button, hold down the Home button and listen for the double bell sound. Begin speaking your request, then release the button.
2. If you have activated the “Hey SIRI” feature, say “Hey SIRI” and wait for SIRI to respond.
3. On supported devices, you can also say “SIRI” and then speak your request.

You do not always need to wait for SIRI to respond before giving the whole command. For example: “SIRI, text Ron Worley, meet you in the morning at the gym.”

Try to speak steadily without long pauses. When you finish speaking, pause for a second or two and SIRI will process the request. Sometimes SIRI will not verbally answer, but the reply will be shown on the screen. A simple touch in the middle of the screen can cause VoiceOver to speak the answer.

SIRI may continue listening in case you have another question. Background noise can sometimes cause SIRI to think you are continuing the conversation.

Phone

• “Call Emtal.”
• “FaceTime JMil.”

Music

• “Play The XX Intro.”

Messages

• “Tell Michele500, I’ll be right there.”
• “Send message to JadeStar.”

Calendar

• “Set up a meeting with Chuck Henricki at 9.”

Reminders

• “Remind me to call Petaf.”

Maps

• “Create a route to the Cracker Barrel.”
• “How do I get to Steve Poirier’s?”

Mail

• “Email Seth about WWDC.”
• “Search email for SockRolid.”

Weather

• “What’s the weather for today?”
• “Is it going to rain today?”
• “Will I need an umbrella today?”
• “What’s the high temperature for today?”

Stocks

• “What is Brad’s stock price?”

Clock

• “Wake me up tomorrow at 10 a.m.”
• “Set a timer for 10 minutes so I can take Kevin’s CrackBerry cobbler out of the oven!”

Contacts

• “What’s Maicols’s address?”

Notes

• “Note that I spent $25 on JBaby knitted capacitive gloves.”
• “Search for notes on JJWicks’ funny comments on iPad Live.”

Safari and Web Searches

• “Search the web SeBorSam.”
• “Who was in the cast of Sleepy Hollow?”

Find My Friends

• “Find Carolyn.”

More Useful SIRI Commands

• Punctuation, symbols, and emoticons: SIRI can understand many basic punctuation marks and symbols if you say their names, such as “open parenthesis,” “close square bracket,” “frowney face,” “new paragraph,” and “pound sign.”
• Play playlist [playlist name]: SIRI can play an entire playlist.
• Find all email by [contact]: SIRI can provide a short list of messages from a requested contact.
• What’s on my calendar for [date]? Ask for appointments for today, tomorrow, next Monday, or a specific date.
• Search [Bing/Yahoo]: Ask SIRI to search another search engine.
• Search [Google/Bing/Yahoo] for [specialized information] [time] [place]: SIRI can often find scores, show times, and other specific information.
• Who was in the cast of [movie]? SIRI can help identify actors in a movie.
• Delete all alarms: SIRI can remove all alarms at once.

Setting Up Relationships with SIRI

You can teach SIRI relationships so you can say things such as “Call my wife” or “Send a message to my brother.”

1. Activate SIRI.
2. Tell SIRI the relationship. For example: “Matthew is my brother.”
3. SIRI will ask you to confirm that relationship.
4. Confirm the request.
5. You can then say commands such as “Send a message to my brother.”

If you have more than one brother or another repeated relationship, you may need to be more specific by using a name, last name, or a description such as “oldest brother.”

Once the relationship is defined, you can say things such as “Tell my brother I’m running 15 minutes late,” or “Remind me to change the light bulb when I get to mom’s house.”

Helping SIRI Pronounce Contact Names

Sometimes adding a phonetic spelling to a contact can help SIRI pronounce the person's name correctly.

1. Open the contact card SIRI is having trouble pronouncing.
2. Choose Edit.
3. Move to the bottom and choose Add Field.
4. Add a phonetic first name, phonetic last name, or both.
5. Choose Done when finished.
6. Try SIRI again to see whether the pronunciation has improved.