Jonny Evans, writing for Computerworld, pulled together this extensive list of things you can ask Siri. This is worth a scan, just to make sure you have a sense of Siri’s current range.
How many of these commands will work on HomePod? I tried a number of these, and I was actually surprised by how many did work. Cool.
Excellent list, thanks for posting.
It can’t be a coincidence that this is posted the day after Jim’s post last night.
It can actually! What did Mr. Dalrymple write???
He enjoys Siri on the HomePod and CarPlay more than on iOS and watchOS because he’s more familiar with Siri’s limitations on HomePod and CarPlay than on iOS and watchOS. He finds that there’s too many unknown limitations on iOS and watchOS, which leads him to using it less to avoid frustration.
Thank you. My hope in the article I wrote was that one of the biggest limitations (at least to my use) is not having a visceral understanding of what is possible. Communication, is (I guess) just 7 percent verbal.
I refuse to use Siri, and this list is an example why. Why do I need to study Siri’s commands and syntax? Here’s a metaphor: natural speech is to Siri as Mac OS GUI is to command line. And I stay the hell out of Terminal unless I have to. I’m weary of tech bloggers who gush about Siri, and Apple promoting Siri, when my experiences with Siri at this point are less successful than when Siri was an app before Apple bought them. I have had bonafide screaming fits at Siri in the car – it makes me feel like the Scottish guy in that classic video. “I. Want. a jammy dodger.” Note to Apple: make Siri your default interaction mode at your own risk. Unless it gets like 500% better than it is now.
There seems to be two things at play with Siri (this is obvious): 1) What Siri can and can’t do and 2) Siri’s performance, or error rate.
For me, as a user since day one, it’s Siri’s poor performance that causes me frustration, not what Siri can’t do.
Why do you need to study Siri’s commands and syntax? You don’t. You can stumble into a lot just by asking it to do things. The list doesn’t even contain a syntax (and there are certainly multiple for each).
But if did use Siri and you wanted to know what you might be missing, the list would be useful to you. Much the same as researching a topic before a person talks about it makes them seem less ignorant.
This is cool! Someone on Reddit made a huge list of music-specific commands, too: https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/838tpr/a_nearly_complete_list_of_siri_commands_for_apple/?st=JEMWFOGM&sh=2df08c6b
I find Siri’s error rate depends more on which microphone you’re using than any other factor. Using the phone itself is great; everything else ranks below that, with many systems falling very far below it.
AirPods seem to be to be the second best, but they’re still much less good than just using the phone itself.
You get bonus points for the Doctor Who reference as well.
Good list. I’ll keep it bookmarked. BTW, you have an extra ‘e’ in Negativland.
I’m so happy someone noticed :_)
No need to be down about it 😉
Perhaps this other article will help? Sometimes Siri likes a bit of retraining http://www.applemust.com/ios-how-to-make-hey-siri-more-accurate/