You've probably had the experience of listening to the radio and wondering the name of the song that's playing—maybe it's new to you and you're wondering who the artist is, or maybe it's familiar but you can't remember the name. Now with iOS 8, Siri can help. In the past, you could ask Siri to identify music playing on your device, but with iOS 8 you can ask Siri to identify any ambient music. And, conveniently, Siri also makes it easy to purchase the song or album.
Siri
How to Get Siri to Stop Interrupting You on iPhone
By Sarah Kingsbury
It's like the Interrupting Cow joke that delights school-age kids everywhere; you activate Siri and start speaking your request, only to be interrupted by, "Here's what I found on the web." At which point you probably say something like "If you'd just let me #$@%ing finish, Siri, you'd know I'm trying to call my wife, not do a web search!"
I can't help you with your anger issues, but I do have a very simple solution to your problems with Interrupting Siri. Here's how to get Siri to stop interrupting you and listen to your entire question.
Apple HomePod Review: 5 Things We Love About Apple's Smart Speaker, & a Few We Don't
By David Averbach
Should You Purchase the HomePod?
iPhoneLife CEO and writer David Averbach reviews audio quality, "Hey Siri" performance, the HomePod's fit into Apple's ecosystem, five of his favorite HomePod features, and who should and shouldn't purchase a HomePod.
If you have an iPhone 6s or later, you can turn on Siri by saying, “Hey, Siri” even when your iPhone isn’t plugged in. However, you also have the option to press and hold your Home button to activate Siri. With iOS 11 on iPhone, you can now turn press and hold to activate Siri off and reply solely on activating Siri with your voice by saying, “Hey, Siri.” If you often accidentally activate Siri when pressing your Home button, this is a great way to stop that from happening. Here’s how to turn off Press Home for Siri and instead only activate with Hey, Siri on iPhone.
HomePod: Who Should Buy Apple’s Siri Smart Speaker
By Sarah Kingsbury
At the recent WWDC 17 keynote, the HomePod smart speaker was one of the biggest announcements of the day. The seven-inch HomePod will come in Silver and Space Gray and will be available in the U.S., U.K., and Australia in December 2017. The Siri smart speaker has better audio quality than Amazon Echo and Google Home and is smarter than the Sonos smart speakers. It's also significantly more expensive than the Echo and Home speakers and there is reason to doubt it will be as smart as the Amazon and Google smart assistants. However, unlike the Echo and Home, the HomePod promises a great deal more privacy to its users. Wondering whether you want to invest in Apple's latest gadget? Here's what you need to know before you make a decision.
How to Calculate Your Tip with Siri
By Sarah Kingsbury
If you think tipping is optional then you need to revisit your basic being-a-decent-human-being skills. And when in doubt, leave at least 20 percent. I’d love to tell you I can do the math in my head every single time, but why when Siri can do it for me. Oh technology, thank you. Here’s how to calculate your tip with Siri.
Find an iPhone or iPad? Siri Will Tell You Who Owns It
By Jim Karpen
I've had the experience of finding a smartphone and having a hard time figuring out who the owner is. It always seems urgent, since I know the owner is desperately looking for it. Should you find a lost iPhone or iPad, you can simply ask Siri who the owner is. Siri will tell you the owner and show contact information. Here’s how to return a lost iPhone or iPad to its rightful owner.
How to Send an Email Using Siri on iPhone
By Conner Carey
Need to send a quick email or email reply? You can use Siri to do that. Sending an email with Siri makes the whole process faster and you can do it hands-free. Siri has improved over the years, so it’s finally at a point where sending an email using Siri is smooth and accurate, instead of riddled with errors and frustrating. Here’s how to send an email using Siri on iPhone.
How to Turn off Location-Based App Suggestions
By Paula Bostrom
In iOS 10, there are now two ways Siri makes app suggestions on the Lock screen. The first is the Siri app suggestions that appear in the Widget pane. The second are the time and location-based app suggestions that appear in the lower left corner of the Lock screen in the same place app icons appear when you’re using Handoff. If you don’t appreciate this feature, it’s easy to turn off app suggestions.
How to Cancel a Siri Command
By Conner Carey
We’ve all had those moments when Siri is accidentally activated. Or we told Siri to set an alarm for six o’clock and the AI sets it for a.m. instead of p.m. Whatever the case, we’ve all needed to cancel a Siri command at one point of another. Depending on the situation, there’s a couple different ways to do this. Here’s how to cancel a Siri command.
You can ask Siri all kinds of fun things thanks to its connection with the WolframAlpha database. One of the fun questions to ask Siri is what flights are overhead, the answer to which might surprise you. Sitting in my friend’s apartment in Boulder, CO, there are five planes over my head within a 50-foot slant all at different altitudes. There’s not much you can do with the knowledge of what planes are flying overhead, but it’s a lot of fun. We’ll cover how to ask Siri what airplanes are above you along with a few other fun or helpful things you can ask Siri. Here’s “what flights are overhead” and other things to ask Siri.
How to Invert Colors with Siri on iPhone
By Conner Carey
Inverting colors on iPhone mostly just looks really cool. It’s also a way to seriously cut down on how much light your screen emits, which makes it good for using at night when you need to see your surroundings while using your iPhone. You can turn on Invert Colors in your Settings app, but you can also ask Siri to do it. Here’s how to invert colors with Siri on iPhone.
How To Tell Siri to Set an Alarm on Weekdays Only
By Jim Karpen
You likely find it convenient to use Siri to set an alarm just by saying, "Set an alarm for tomorrow morning at 6 am." However, you can also instruct Siri to set an alarm for more than a single day, including setting the alarm for every day or for weekdays only, which is significantly faster than checking every day individually when manually setting an alarm in the clock app.
How To Make Speakerphone Calls Using Siri
By Paula Bostrom
I have several hours of commute time every week, and I don’t always have my iPhone’s Bluetooth headset with me. The last thing I want to do while going 55 on the highway is fidget around in Contacts looking for the person I need to call. Luckily, you can use Siri to make speakerphone calls whenever you need to keep your hands free. Here’s how to make speakerphone calls using Siri.
How to Use Hey Siri to Start Playing a Podcast
By Conner Carey
Siri has so many functions these days, it’s hard to keep up. From reporting sport scores to becoming accessible to third-party apps with iOS 10—the AI can nearly do it all. But how about asking Siri to start playing a podcast? Turns out you can ask Siri to do that as well. Here’s how to use Hey Siri to start playing a podcast.
The Best of Siri: 12 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do
By Rheanne Taylor
Apple’s voice-activated digital assistant has evolved a lot since it debuted with iOS 5 and remains one of the iPhone’s most popular features today. Siri can handle almost anything, from providing quick answers to your most basic questions to helping you simplify your life through integration with your device’s most core functions. Of course, with so many ways to use Siri, knowing where to begin can be somewhat daunting. Here we’ll share with you some of our favorite tips so you can fall in love with Siri too. To activate Siri with any of these tips, simply say, "Hey, Siri," or press the Home button on iPhone 8 and earlier and the Side button on iPhone X
How to Check Your Schedule with Siri
By Conner Carey
Siri can do all kinds of things these days on the iPhone. From telling you the latest sports scores to letting you know what song is playing on the radio. Another awesome thing you can ask Siri is what your schedule looks like for the day. Here’s how to check your schedule with Siri.
How to Use Hey Siri
By Tommy Ly
Since its inception, Siri has become more and more useful. It’s obvious that Apple has put a lot of thought into Siri’s place in today’s world, resulting in Siri's ability to do everything from calculations to searching the web and making restaurant reservations. With Hey Siri, Apple’s personal assistant makes things even more convenient.
How to Find Your Kids with Siri
By Conner Carey
Apple's free Find My Friends app allows you to track the location of friends and family members who have given you permission. The feature probably works best for keeping track of teenagers running around town, and Siri is happy to help you locate them.
How to Control Apple Music from Lock Screen
By Jim Karpen
When you’re playing music from your iPhone, you’ll notice the Lock screen will provide information on the song playing as well as some added controls. It doesn’t matter if you’re listening to playlist, your music library, or streaming Beats radio — the Lock screen will look roughly the same. Here’s how to control Apple Music from Lock screen.