Apple’s virtual assistant, Siri, has been around for 12 years and is allegedly used to interact with your Apple devices using only your voice. While Apple has an extensive list of things you can in all likelihood use Siri for, in reality, most probably use it to do things like set reminders, check the weather, ask easily Googleable questions, and control your smart appliances.
First introduced on the iPhone 4S, the virtual assistant is now available on most Apple devices, adding the iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch, HomePod, and the upcoming Apple Vision Pro headphones.
Here’s a quick primer on how to use Siri, and what you can do with it.
Siri is the call Apple gave to its voice-controlled, AI-powered assistant. It’s the voice you hear when you say “Hey Siri” on your phone or press and hold the side or Home button on your Apple device. Siri is designed as an easy way to interact with your Apple devices, adding iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, HomePod, and Mac.
As Siri is built into Apple’s operating systems (including iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS), the voice assistant has direct access to some built-in apps like Mail, Contacts, Messages, etc. , allowing it to perform responsibilities manually. using only voice commands.
Although the voice assistant is synonymous with Apple, the company did not originally create Siri. The voice assistant was developed through a company called Siri Inc. , a spinoff from an allocation of the SRI International Center for Artificial Intelligence.
The first iteration of the Siri voice assistant was introduced back in February 2010 as a standalone app for iOS. At the time of launch, the Siri Inc. team was also planning on launching the Siri app for Android and BlackBerry devices, but a few months later, in April 2010, Apple acquired the company and its tech—including Siri.
In October 2011, Apple introduced the iPhone 4S, with a beta edition of Siri built into iOS.
You can find the virtual voice assistant on all of Apple’s devices. This includes iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, the iPod Touch (if you still use one), Apple TV, HomePod, and even AirPods (when connected to an iPhone or iPad).
Siri will also be incorporated into Apple’s “spatial computing” headset, Vision Pro, when it launches in February 2024. You’ll be able to use Siri to open or close apps in visionOS and to provide voice dictation (the device lacks drivers or a physical connection). keyboard, which would make “typing” an arduous task, so if you have one you’ll probably be talking to Siri a lot. )
Siri can take care of critical responsibilities like creating calendar appointments, checking the weather or traffic, betting music, and sending messages. Siri can also be used to identify songs (thanks in part to Apple’s acquisition of Shazam in 2018) and give turn-by-turn directions in Apple Maps. Since 2016, the generation is also available to third-party developers, so you’ll also be able to use Siri to control smart home devices and carry out other responsibilities.
If you’re just getting into smart home tech, Siri on iOS or HomePod can be used to control your devices that support HomeKit such as lights, thermostats, smart locks and more.
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