Siri has long been one of the coolest features of the iPhone and iPad,
and with the rise of Amazon Alexa and Google Home, it's easy to see what
a big impact Siri has had on technology. And yet she's still probably
the most underutilized feature of our smartphones and tablets. There are
a number of ways Siri can help you be more productive such as setting
reminders or adding a meeting to your calendar, but there are also a ton
of cool Siri tricks that can range from useful to outright funny.
* Hey, Siri. Let's start this list of tricks with the newest way to
activate Siri. You can always hold down the home button to get
Siri's attention, but on most newer devices, you can also say "Hey
Siri" to get her attention.
* Siri Voice Dictation. Another great feature that is easy to overlook
is how good she does at dictation. You can go the entire hands-free
way by saying something like, "Hey Siri, email Tom subject I'm not
going to make it tonight body Something came up." This is great
because you can tell her the subject and the body of the email. But
you can also use Siri's voice dictation anytime the keyboard is on
the screen by tapping the microphone button on the keyboard. This
means she can take voice dictation in almost any app.
* Use Siri With Apps. Siri is no longer restricted to just Apple's
apps. She works with a number of third-party apps, and the list is
growing. For example, you can ask her, "Tell Amy I'm running late
with WhatsApp" or "Show me puppy pins in Pinterest."
* She can also be a He. Tired of the same old Siri? You can change
Siri's voice to a man's voice or even change her accent to
Australian or British. Simply launch Settings, go to Siri & Search
and tap Siri Voice to change her gender or accent.
* Convert measurements, currency. Want to know how many miles are in 5
kilometers? Or what 300 British pounds are in American dollars? Just
ask her.
* Pronounce Your Name. If you have a name like Mike, Sam, Ashley or
Susan, Siri probably doesn't have much of an issue with your name.
But if Siri is mangling your name, you can correct her by saying,
"That's not how you say that."
* Give someone a nickname. Nicknames aren't just a fun addition to
Siri, they can also be rather useful. For example, if you nickname
your manager "boss" in your contacts, Siri will understand "Call
Boss" or "Text Boss" commands. Simply go into your Contacts list, go
to the contact in question, click Edit at the top, scroll down and
tap Add Field, choose Nickname and type in whatever nickname you
want to give the contact.
* Siri is a comedian. If you are simply bored, you can ask Siri all
kinds of questions. Just think up something bizarre to ask her and
see how she responds. Some especially funny ones include "Sing a
song", "What's your favorite color" and "Show me the money."
* Get Calorie Information. Can Siri help with your diet? Yes, she can.
One great aspect of Siri is the connection to WolframAlpha, which
has all kinds of useful information in it. And while asking her how
many calories are in a pizza won't give you the exact amount for
that slice you a contemplating -- that would depend on the toppings
and the size of the slice -- she'll give you a good ballpark figure.
* Get the time... anywhere. If you regularly contact people in
different parts of the country or different areas of the world, this
trick is very handy. Just ask Siri what the time is in that location
and she'll tell you the local time. No more waking someone up at 3
AM because you didn't know how early it was in London!
* What song is playing? Thanks to Shazam, Siri can now recognize music
just by listening to it. This is great if you hear a song while out
and about and are thinking about buying it. She'll even give you the
option to buy right then via iTunes.
* Open App Settings. By now, most of us are aware that Siri can launch
an app for us by saying "open [app name]". She can even open the
iPhone and iPad's settings by saying "Open Settings". But did you
know she can open an individual app's settings? Just say "Open [app
name] settings" to find out what sort of tweaks you can make to that
particular app. For example, "Open Music Settings" will let you
change the EQ and turn off Shake to Shuffle.
* Turn off Bluetooth. If you have Bluetooth speakers, a Bluetooth
headphone or other accessories, you might get annoyed at the need to
go into settings to turn off Bluetooth when you want to save some
battery life. Apple made it easier to turn off Bluetooth via the
control panel, but an even faster way to toggle Bluetooth on or off
is to simply ask Siri to do it for you.
* Change the day, time and content of a reminder. Did Siri garble your
reminder? If she got the day or time wrong or even the content of
the reminder, you don't need to start from scratch. Simply say,
"Change the time to..." or "Change the reminder to..." in order to
change parts of the reminder.
* Reminders can have categories. This one will require you to go into
the Reminders app, but it can be worth it. If you create a category
of reminders such as Grocery List, you can add items to that
category via Siri by saying "Add lettuce to grocery list".
* Take a picture. The fastest way to get ready to snap that shot? Just
say "Take a picture" and Siri will open the camera app.
* Flip a coin or roll dice. Head or tails? No problem. You can even
tell Siri to roll dice and she'll give you the results of two
six-sided dice being rolled.
* Find airplanes flying overhead. I'm not sure exactly how useful this
one is, but Siri has the ability to tell you what airplanes are in
your area. So if you see a DC-10 and want to figure out where it is
going or where it departed, ask Siri about airplanes flying overhead.
Did You Know?
Siri works even if you are on the lock screen, but if you are worried
about security, you can disable her from activating while the iPhone or
iPad is locked.
Cheers,
Marcio <https://tinyurl.com/TlkTM>
AKA /Starboy/
Sent from a galaxy far, far away.
--
Are you a Thunderbird user? Then join the Thunderbird mailing list
<https://groups.io/g/thunderbird/> to help and be helped with all
Thunderbird things - questions, features, add-ons and much more!
--
The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list.
If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you
feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or
moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself.
Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at:
[email protected]. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at
[email protected]
The archives for this list can be searched at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone.
To view this discussion on the web visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/viphone/d30b1d70-dd8b-b56a-5fe0-d375d5d3ceee%40yahoo.com.br.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
