There are some major improvements to Siri in iOS 15, with Apple introducing features that iPhone users have long asked for. On devices with an A12 chip or later, ?Siri? can do on-device processing and there’s support for offline requests.
This guide highlights all of the new ?Siri? features that are available in iOS (and iPadOS) 15.
On-Device Speech Processing and Personalization
Starting in ?iOS 15?, speech processing and personalization are done on-device. This makes ?Siri? faster at processing requests, but also more secure. Most audio requests made of ?Siri? are kept entirely on the ?iPhone? and are no longer uploaded to Apple’s servers for processing.
?Siri?’s speech recognition and understanding of commands improves as a device is used, with ?Siri? learning the contacts most interacted with, new words typed, and topics preferred, with all of this information kept on device and private.
On-device speech processing and personalization is enabled through the Apple Neural Engine and it is available on iPhones and iPads that have an A12 Bionic chip or later.
On-device processing is available in German (Germany), English (Australia, Canada, India, UK, U.S.), Spanish (Spain, Mexico, U.S.), French (France), Japanese (Japan), Mandarin Chinese (China mainland), and Cantonese (Hong Kong).
Offline Support
With on-device processing now available, there are a wide range of ?Siri? requests that can be handled offline. ?Siri? can create (and disable) timers and alarms, launch apps, control audio playback, and access Settings options.
Apple says ?Siri? can also process Messages, sharing, and Phone requests.
Sharing via Siri
When you come across something that you want to share like a photo, web page, Apple Music song, or podcast, you can ask ?Siri? to send it to a friend or family member and ?Siri? will do so.
If it’s something that can’t be shared, like a Messages thread, ?Siri? will make a screenshot and send that. All you have to do is say “Send this to [person]” and ?Siri? will confirm the request and then send it along.
This feature works with ?Apple Music?, Apple Podcasts, Apple News, Maps, web pages, photos, Messages, and more.
Improved Context Between Requests
?Siri? in ?iOS 15? can better maintain context between voice requests. So if you ask something like “How late is the Taco Bell open?” and then “How long does it take to get there?” ?Siri? will understand that “there” is the Taco Bell from the previous request.
This tends to work only when there’s a single option, because in a situation with multiple Taco Bells, ?Siri? needs clarification. For that reason, the contextual improvements are limited.
Contacts
?Siri? also understands that if there’s a contact on the screen, that’s the person that you want to talk to.
So if you have the contacts app open to a specific person, are chatting with someone in Messages, get a Message notification, or miss a call, you can say something like “Message them I’m on my way” and ?Siri? will know to send it to the relevant contact that you’ve just interacted with or have open.
HomeKit Improvements
?Siri? can now be used to control a HomeKit device at a specific time. So if you want your lights to turn off right when at 7, you can say something like “Hey ?Siri?, turn off the bedroom lights at 7.p.m.” This command also works for geolocation, so you can say things like “Hey ?Siri?, turn off the air conditioning when I leave.”
When you ask ?Siri? to control a ?HomeKit? product this way, it creates an automation in the Home app under the “Automation” section. If you want to delete an Automation ?Siri? has created, you can do so in the Home app.
?HomeKit? developers can also add ?Siri? support to their products in ?iOS 15?, but using ?Siri? commands with third-party devices does require the user to have a HomePod to route requests through. With ?Siri? integration, customers will be able to use their ?HomeKit? products for ?Siri? commands like setting reminders, controlling devices, broadcasting messages, and more.
Announce Notifications
?Siri? has been able to announce calls and incoming messages when using AirPods (or Beats headphones) for some time now, but in ?iOS 15?, that feature is expanding to all notifications.
?Siri? can automatically announce Time Sensitive notifications when ?AirPods? are connected if you toggle the feature on in the Settings app (in either the ?Siri? or Notifications sections), and there are also options to have ?Siri? announce notifications on an app-by-app basis if you want to hear notifications from a particular app but those notifications aren’t Time Sensitive.
Announce Messages in CarPlay
There’s now a feature to have ?Siri? announce your incoming messages when your ?iPhone? is connected to a CarPlay setup.
There’s an option to turn announcements on or off when a message is read, and ?Siri? will remember your preference. This feature can also be toggled on or off using the Settings app.
Announce Reminders With AirPods
In addition to notifications, ?Siri? can also announced reminders that come up when wearing ?AirPods? or compatible Beats headphones.
Add Siri Suggestions to Safari Start Page
With Start Page customization in ?iOS 15?, there is an option to add a section for ?Siri? Suggestions for websites you might want to visit or content you might want to view.
Language Improvements
Neural text-to-speech voices have expanded to Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Finnish in ?iOS 15?.
Apple has also added mixed English and Indic language support. ?Siri? can process commands in a mix of Indian English and native languages, with support for Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, Bengali, Gujarati, Malayalam, and Punjabi.
Siri for Developers
Apple is tweaking its SiriKit interface and is eliminating some of the ?Siri? commands that developers were able to use with third-party apps.
Starting with ?iOS 15?, customers will no longer be able to use ?Siri? in third-party apps to do things like book a ride with Uber, make a bill payment, or create new task lists in to-do apps. Many of these ?Siri? functions may be replaced by Shortcut options that can be activated with ?Siri? voice commands.
Guide Feedback
Have questions about ?Siri? in ?iOS 15?, know of a feature we left out, or want to offer feedback on this guide? Send us an email here.Related Roundups: iOS 15, iPadOS 15Tag: SiriRelated Forum: iOS 15This article, “Everything New With Siri in iOS 15: On-Device Processing, Offline Support, Sharing, Improved Context and More” first appeared on MacRumors.comDiscuss this article in our forums
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Author: Juli Clover