Siri is great! Why aren't you using it more?

[Black Magic]

I am surprised at how often I hear negative comments in regards to Siri and its functionality. I use it frequently and never really have any issues with it. Being able to say "Hey Siri" and then follow it up with a command is extremely useful.

Things I use it for:

Checking Weather
Calendar
Text Messages (sending and reading).
Movie Times
Calculating Tips
Finding Places
Playing Music
Reminders
Alarms


Do you use it? If so, why and what do you use it for? If not, why not?

 

[Shirasaki]

If Siri can respond "Play 僕らは今のなかて performed by μ's" correctly, then I will use it. This, is my biggest reason not using Siri.

 

[ashindnile]

When Siri can finally answer "Who founded Facebook", I'll give it another shot. Despite the focus on Siri this year, it still feels like an afterthought, especially considering how far ahead Google Now already is, and how much smarter it's getting with Nougat.

 

[Volusia]

I use it whenever I remember to use it! I have to admit that I was so much in the habit of just grabbing my phone and doing what I needed/wanted that i didn't think much about Siri. Now that I am using an  Watch I find myself using it a lot more often.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I can type. That's why I don't use Siri.
Does my wife want to hear me say hey Siri, open MacRumours? Probably not.

 

[Floris]

A simple example why I do not use Siri 'all the time', but I try to use it as much as possible is:

I hope by using it that it's showing Apple what's working and isn't working (please track this properly Apple hehe)
But, when I am on the bike I am getting a ding, I want to hear what it was, I don't want to stop my travels. Being able to say, read my last email, or my lasts msgs, and then being able to reply is great.

But this doesn't work for anything but Apple itself. I can't say 'That ding I just got, I think that's WhatsApp, can you please read that to me and reply to the whatsapp contact?'

And my biggest frustration is that' I am Dutch. I use the English Siri, because using Dutch means it can't even do calculations or conversions. It will fail or say 'this is what I found on the web'. And second worst response is 'Calling <unknown response> on mobile...' and I have to apologize to some random person why they have a missed call from me.

I want to use it constantly. But 2/5 times it just doesn't get me. Or it almost gets me.

 

[NoBoMac]

Ditto what Apple fanboy said.

I have a friend with an Android phone, and if he wants to look up something, he goes into the whole Android voice search thing. In the time it takes for him to say what he wants to search for, I can bring up Safari, go to Google, and do the search and get results. Insult to injury, it usually take my friend 2 or more attempts and voice input to get results that are meaningful (read: Google gets what he said).

Now for me, Siri has gotten better at understanding what I say, but still has difficulty transcribing it (eg. "to" vs "two" vs "too"). After two, three attempts for Siri to understand my dictation, it's time to give up and just type the damn thing.

 

[old-wiz]

I was unable to get Siri to recognize my voice. sigh.

 

[Floris]

Ditto what Apple fanboy said.

I have a friend with an Android phone, and if he wants to look up something, he goes into the whole Android voice search thing. In the time it takes for him to say what he wants to search for, I can bring up Safari, go to Google, and do the search and get results. Insult to injury, it usually take my friend 2 or more attempts and voice input to get results that are meaningful (read: Google gets what he said).

Now for me, Siri has gotten better at understanding what I say, but still has difficulty transcribing it (eg. "to" vs "two" vs "too"). After two, three attempts for Siri to understand my dictation, it's time to give up and just type the damn thing.

Fanboi indeed! Anyway, .. It really surprises me when I ask Siri "set a reminder for tomorrow to wash the car" that it ends up as "calling for tommy" and the text when i slide back up to see what i caught changed was the car to vessel the car. Which just seems super unlikely. But those are the times it goes really wrong. Usually it's in the 95% range of doing okay. A great Internet connection really helps I've noticed. Dodgy 3g area and you shouldn't even try. Such a shame.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Fanboi indeed! Anyway, .. It really surprises me when I ask Siri "set a reminder for tomorrow to wash the car" that it ends up as "calling for tommy" and the text when i slide back up to see what i caught changed was the car to vessel the car. Which just seems super unlikely. But those are the times it goes really wrong. Usually it's in the 95% range of doing okay. A great Internet connection really helps I've noticed. Dodgy 3g area and you shouldn't even try. Such a shame.

Fanboy doesn't mean I love and use everything with an symbol on it!
It's just a handle.
Texting is so popular because it means I can sit in my open plan office sending a private text to Mrs AFB. Dictating it to Siri or even just using the phone, means I disturb everyone else.

 

[Spink10]

I just forget to use Siri - hasn't become a habit. Maybe this thread will help my awareness.

 

[Chocolatemilty]

Fanboi indeed! Anyway, .. It really surprises me when I ask Siri "set a reminder for tomorrow to wash the car" that it ends up as "calling for tommy" and the text when i slide back up to see what i caught changed was the car to vessel the car. Which just seems super unlikely. But those are the times it goes really wrong. Usually it's in the 95% range of doing okay. A great Internet connection really helps I've noticed. Dodgy 3g area and you shouldn't even try. Such a shame.

This happens so much! I'll ask Siri something or dictate it and it'll be perfect on the screen and then all of a sudden change to something ridiculous. That's showing me that Siri is getting and understanding what I'm saying but something on the backend is changing it for some reason. Funnily enough, Siri works amazingly in the car with Hey Siri. Any time I ask her to play something with Apple Music, give me directions somewhere, or read my texts and reply to it, it's perfect - mostly because it then connects to the built-in car mic, which is really good. Otherwise of the car, tho, it's in the 80th percentile of functionality.

 

[M. Gustave]

The people who (wrongly) expect Siri to act like "Computer" from Star Trek, are disappointed, or go online to tell their ridiculous "Siri messed up _____" stories.

Those who invest a minimal amount of time learning to use Siri to manipulate the built in iOS tasks she was designed for, are happy.

 

[akash.nu]

When Siri can finally answer "Who founded Facebook", I'll give it another shot. Despite the focus on Siri this year, it still feels like an afterthought, especially considering how far ahead Google Now already is, and how much smarter it's getting with Nougat.

Don't forget it gets smarter at the expense of your data.

 

[ashindnile]

Don't forget it gets smarter at the expense of your data.

Here's where I play the 'Differential Privacy' card

 

[akash.nu]

It's an issue with privacy & comfort mostly for me. I don't like to shout around about my private business to my phone when I'm with someone else and also talking to the phone requires more effort and attention. I can just close my eyes and type on the other hand. No effort or concentration needed. Autocorrect is bang on for me.

Siri is only useful to me either when I'm driving or riding bike.

 

[Ulenspiegel]

I never use it. Some of the reasons were mentioned already.

 

[Floris]

The people who (wrongly) expect Siri to act like "Computer" from Star Trek, are disappointed, or go online to tell their ridiculous "Siri messed up _____" stories.

Those who invest a minimal amount of time learning to use Siri to manipulate the built in iOS tasks she was designed for, are happy.

Then you teach me how to properly say it. Clearly when I state: "Hey siri, can you set a reminder for tomorrow to go to the car wash" i am doing it wrong, because the response sometimes ends up as a phone call to someone from my contact list.

Do I need to talk dumber to siri? And wait between every two words so it can better process it? hey siri .. wait for audible feedback? even if it's turned off i guess? remove "can you" and just go with "set reminder" and then pause an wait for it to ask me when or what? ..

Yes, I expect natural language, when their keynote demos this. And they sell it as a personal assistant. If I wanted a dumb slave that gets it wrong all the time I'd buy an Android.
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Fanboy doesn't mean I love and use everything with an symbol on it!
It's just a handle.
Texting is so popular because it means I can sit in my open plan office sending a private text to Mrs AFB. Dictating it to Siri or even just using the phone, means I disturb everyone else.

I am a fanboy, but I got my first iPhone when they introduced the retina screen. And I don't buy first-gen releases, I wait a couple of years. But I try my best to get what's good, and lasts. And that's not the cheapest smallest ipod with 16gb that's 2 year old. I want to invest in something that's giving me the most, because im fanboy enough that i actually use it. My phone gets used from listening to music, to gps buddy while traveling, and game development and iMovie creations. I don't buy a phone to facebook friends. Im rambling, I need coffee. I mean well.

 

[M. Gustave]

Then you teach me how to properly say it. Clearly when I state: "Hey siri, can you set a reminder for tomorrow to go to the car wash" i am doing it wrong, because the response sometimes ends up as a phone call to someone from my contact list.

Maybe it's from my experience training dogs, or working in IT support? I do automatically strip out non-essential words. It's not a person, so I don't get the whole desire to speak to a computer in "natural language".

This was my first attempt at your task:

 

[RiderX]

In the past, we had "Eliza". Got boring after 5 minutes.

Now we have Siri. Gets boring after 5 minutes.

 

[Spink10]

If Siri was smarter and more integrated I may use her.

 

[Dukins]

I asked Siri just yesterday, what time our local mall closed. It gave me directions to the mall. That's good and all, but I didn't ask for directions. I asked the same question in Google, perfect results. Hopefully ios10 helps. I am a recent android convert and google is hands down far and above Siri at this point in time.

 

[Spink10]

I asked Siri just yesterday, what time our local mall closed. It gave me directions to the mall. That's good and all, but I didn't ask for directions. I asked the same question in Google, perfect results. Hopefully ios10 helps. I am a recent android convert and google is hands down far and above Siri at this point in time.

Bummer. Apple must not have enough funds to develop Siri. Wink wink

 

[M. Gustave]

I asked Siri just yesterday, what time our local mall closed. It gave me directions to the mall. That's good and all, but I didn't ask for directions. I asked the same question in Google, perfect results.

I just tried the same task, and it worked on the first attempt. I'm in iOS 9.3.2.

 

[Spink10]

Worked for me also