Mike Wuerthele
A new website chronicles what users can say to Apple's Siri, and what to expect in return, for iOS 9 as well as the forthcoming iOS 10 and macOS Sierra implementations of the virtual assistant.
The site uses crowdsourced data to share successful queries made to Siri. At present, 34 categories of questions are listed, including examples of unit conversions, device settings, messaging requests, e-mail manipulations, and so forth.
General phrases that Siri can manage are listed, with a highlighed word in the phrase in some queries able to be changed by the user, depending on context. For instance, Siri can be asked to "show me my favorite photos," but a similar question can also be phrased as "show me my favorite photos from New York."
Apple has no similar guide available to the public or to developers at this time.
Siri debuted in 2011 on the iPhone 4s with iOS 5. Siri's abilities have escalated with time, adding sport scores, restaurant reservations and movie showtimes in iOS 6. Wikipedia and Twitter searches were added with iOS 7. Apple added integrations with Apple Music and the Apple Watch when both products launched.
Starting with iOS 10 and macOS Sierra, Siri will expand past Apple-only applications, and will include third-party app integration capability. The updated Siri in iOS 10 and macOS Sierra will also support payments, photo searches, ridesharing applications, and VoIP calls.
The Siri remote on the fourth generation Apple TV was derided at launch, but has improved some with revisions to the tvOS. It is not known if any of the improvements to Siri in iOS 10 and macOS Sierra will be implemented in tvOS at the same time.
Malcolm Owen
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14 Comments
Personally, I barely use Siri anymore due to previously experienced limitations. If it gets much, much better at some point in the future I may reconsider using it more generally.
I use it a lot in the car, and for setting reminders generally.
On Apple TV, mostly for searches.
i use it all the time. just made a doctors appt 5 minutes ago.
my favorite siri tip -- "Show me photos from August 2015" (whenever). way easier than scrolling thru pics or collections.
I am thinking it takes a bit more of a learning curve and habit to make use of this. I am finding old habits are getting in the way of truly benefiting from SIRI. I have also found in several environments where the microphone or software does not pick up what I am saying very well. I do however see the vast potential this technology can bring once it becomes fully developed and tuned.