10 Absolutely Useful Siri Tricks You Probably Haven’t Tried Yet
These simple tricks might save you hours a year
‘Siri’ is a common name in our place, Telangana, India. Back the days, when I learnt Apple’s voice-assistant was called Siri, I was surprised.
“How could a US-based company name its creation after an Indian name?”, I thought.
But later I learnt — Siri, in Norse, meant a beautiful woman who leads you to victory. Ahhh yes. But though Siri didn’t lead me to “victory”, it at least saved me time and led me to an easier tech life.
Here are 10 of the most unpopular Siri tricks I use time and time again to make my life easier.
#1. Send screenshots without a click
Rather than the icky process of holding multiple iPhone buttons to take a screenshot, here’s a simpler process.
If you’d like to take a screenshot, just say, "Hey Siri! Take a screenshot." , and a screenshot will be instantly ready.
Or, if you’d like to share a screenshot to your friend Fernando or foe Joe via iMessage, just say, "Hey Siri! Take a screenshot and send it to ..." .
Siri will also ask for any additional text you’d like to add before sending.
#2. Sirizaam
After Apple has acquired the Shazam service, it’s been integrated directly into iOS.
To know a song playing nearby, you can simply tap Shazam icon in the Control centre and let your iPhone hear it and identify it in seconds.
Instead, if you’d like to employ Siri for the job, just ask, "Hey Siri! What's this song?" and she’ll identify it.
Note: With this method, the song won’t appear in Shazam history. It's only identified.#3. Hey Siri! Remind me of this
Reminders exist because we’re too busy to do things at the moment. And “typing” a reminder yourself to be notified at a later point is ironic.
Let Siri take up the task.
So if you’d like to be reminded about
- An email,
- A note,
- A webpage,
- A calendar event,
- A document,
- A message,
- A photo album, or
- A shortcut,
Open it and say, "Hey Siri! Remind me of this later." And Siri will add it to reminders. You could also tell her to remind things on a specific date and time.
#4. Split bills
This is especially useful if you often hangout with friends. I’m sure you open the calculator for splitting bills before you wave bye. However, the task might become much easier if you use Siri for it.
Say you need to split a bill of $100 among 5 people, for example, say, "Hey Siri! Split a bill of 100 dollars among 5 people."
She then tells the amount each person has to pay, while also displaying tips of 10%, 15%, and 20% if they’re customary in your region. If not, you can specifically ask for them.
#5. Count days between …
Siri is also good at counting days. You can ask her any of these:
Hey Siri!
- How long until Christmas?
- How long until my father’s birthday?
- How many days between 5th April and 25th September?
etc.
If she replies with months, you can ask for exact days too.
#6. Translate
Siri can also translate things, even if you don’t have the Apple translate app installed. This might be very useful if you’re travelling.
To use it, just say, "Hey Siri! What do you say "How are you" in German?" , for example, and Siri will instantly translate it for you.
Note: Siri will always process translations online, though you have languages downloaded.#7. Control brightness
We don’t generally use Siri for controlling screen brightness, because it’s an easily accessible thing in the Control Centre.
But the iPhone’s screen sometimes becomes so dark or bright it’s difficult to look and adjust brightness. This case, you can use Siri for the job.
For this, simply say, "Hey Siri! Make the screen brighter or dimmer" . You can also specify the exact brightness percentage.
#8. Let Siri wake you up
If you’re stressed at work, it’s natural to wish for a little nap. Then, you can say, "Hey Siri! Wake me up in 45 minutes" and she’ll set an alarm. You can also say, "Hey Siri! Set a timer of 45 minutes" .
If you woke up earlier and would like to delete the alarm, you can say, "Hey Siri! Delete the alarm at 3:45 PM , for example, or Delete all my alarms" .
#9. Flip a coin, roll dice, or pick a number
You can tell Siri to flip a coin, roll a single dice or two, or pick a random number. For this, say, "Hey Siri! Flip a coin , or Roll a die , or Roll dice (for two) , or Pick a number" , and she’ll reply with an unbiased result.
May you win.
Note: Siri always picks a random number between 1 and 100 by default. You can specify a different range if you want.#10. Fun with Siri
If you’re bored and would like to have a good giggle, here are some Siri commands you could try. Just say
Hey Siri!
- Do beatbox
- Do rap
- Sing a song
- Sing a lullaby
- Tell a joke
- Tell a story
- Tell a horror story
- Tell a haiku”
Repeat the commands again and again to get different replies.
My personal favourite joke of Siri is — What does 0 say to 8? Nice belt.
Happy giggling :)
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