Siri's Limitations Persist: Innovative Workarounds to Enhance User Experience

Some Noticeable Information

Siri sucks for a variety of reasons, but setting it up from scratch, simplifying your commands, and using a button to activate it can help.

You can avoid using Siri by utilizing Spotlight Search, Shortcuts, widgets, and the dictation feature. Dealing with Siri can be challenging at times, which may discourage you from using the assistant altogether. To overcome this, here are some suggestions for effectively interacting with or finding alternatives to Apple's problematic digital assistant.

What's Wrong with Siri?

Siri's problems are multi-faceted, but we've grouped them into a few main issues.

Siri Doesn't Activate When You Want

Getting Siri to trigger can be a chore in and of itself, no matter what device you're using:

iOS 17 brought about the introduction of the "Siri" command, however, this feature can still be inconsistent. On an Apple Watch, the "Raise to Speak" functionality has declined over time, resulting in a significant portion of commands failing due to Siri not being responsive. Furthermore, when attempting to call upon Siri on my Mac, she appears on my iPhone instead.

Siri Frequently Mishears Words

When engaged in activities such as cooking or driving, voice assistants are invaluable for swiftly carrying out commands. However, one of the most prevalent and exasperating problems is Siri's tendency to misunderstand or misconstrue the issued commands, rendering it unhelpful in these situations.

If you find yourself covered in food and unable to pick up an iPhone, you may want to add ingredients to your shopping list. Using Siri might seem like a great solution, but unfortunately, it is not reliable enough to accurately jot down the ingredients. Despite having a relatively neutral English accent, I frequently come across various colorful interpretations.

Maple Sarah: She sounds lovely but it's "maple syrup" I'm looking for.

Curry Paradise: There's probably plenty of "curry powder" in Curry Paradise.

Currency: "Currants," see?

Ground Cuman: Not "cumin." This one is just plain weird when you consider who the Cumans were.

Siri Is Too Tied to Apple

Although Siri remains predominantly partial towards Apple's apps and services, this can pose an issue if you prefer to utilize third-party alternatives. While it is feasible to enhance certain Siri commands with the addition of "in Google Maps," numerous apps such as Evernote or Facebook Messenger are regrettably incompatible.

This diminishes the convenience of giving swift commands. Siri lacks the capability to learn your preferences through a "default apps" setting, resulting in the need for extra steps to play a song on Spotify using Siri.

There's a Lot Siri Can't Do

Sometimes, Siri may frustratingly reply with an "I'm sorry I can't do that" response to your requests. On rare occasions, it may even misunderstand your query completely, resulting in an unexpectedly bizarre reply.

The outcome of all these circumstances creates a situation akin to being slowly and incrementally overwhelmed, where there is uncertainty about Siri's responsiveness, comprehension, ability to fulfill requests, or even the possibility of it unexpectedly malfunctioning.

Nevertheless, there are certain measures that can be adopted to enhance Siri's performance.

How to Make Siri Work Better

If you're determined to keep using Siri, you might want to follow the advice below to give yourself the best chance of success.

Set Up "Siri" and "Hey Siri" Again

If Siri isn't hearing you when using your device hands-free, you can try setting it up again.

Go to Settings > Siri & Search on your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch. Disable the "Listen for" option and then enable it again. This action will prompt you to set up Siri on your iPhone once more and enhance voice detection.

On a Mac, go to System Settings > Siri & Spotlight. Then toggle the "Ask Siri" option, but make sure to re-enable "Listen for" afterwards.

Invoke Siri by Holding the Side Button

If you're experiencing consistent issues with "Siri" and "Hey, Siri" not functioning properly, or if they're mistakenly activating frequently, you have the option to disable the "Listen for" feature in your device's settings. By doing so, you can return to performing tasks in the traditional manner.

On newer iPhones and iPads, you can activate Siri by holding down either the "Side" or "Top" button. This is the same button you would typically press to lock or put your device to sleep. Simply press and hold the button, speak your request, and then release. Alternatively, you can utilize the Accessibility settings to invoke Siri with a double or triple tap gesture on your iPhone.

On an Apple Watch, you can press and hold the Digital Crown in the same manner.

On a Mac, you can hold the microphone button, or select a different shortcut in the System Settings.

Use "Thank You" to Avoid Chaining Commands

Starting from iOS 17, Siri has the capability to string multiple commands together. This feature aims to simplify the process of issuing subsequent requests without needing to activate Siri again. However, it is important to note that this can result in Siri listening for an extended period of time, especially if you are unfamiliar with this functionality.

You can pause Siri's response by expressing gratitude with "thank you" or by simply putting your device to sleep. However, showing appreciation is a requirement in this case. Uttering "OK" or dismissing with phrases like "Away, fool" (I can attest to this) does not work.

Simplify Your Commands

When interacting with Siri, the key to optimal performance is simplifying your commands. Instead of politely requesting, "Hey Siri, please set a timer for two minutes," try a more straightforward approach by simply saying, "Siri, timer, two minutes." Although it's not quite the same as engaging in a natural conversation with a human, this streamlined method yields the best results.

A similar principle applies when you want to include items in a list: "add ketchup shopping list" is perfectly acceptable (it may be interpreted as "catch-up" but the meaning is clear). The crucial aspect here is to simplify your commands. Additional examples include "Text Dad I'll be home in five" and "Directions, Apple Store, Brisbane".

Don't Wait to Give Your Command

Instead of saying "Hey Siri" and then pausing, some people prefer to speak their entire command in one sentence. It can be frustrating if Siri doesn't respond immediately after starting the sentence, but this is how the assistant was designed to be used.

If you're facing difficulties with this task, we suggest dividing the commands into smaller parts. Rather than dictating a lengthy text or email to Siri all at once, instruct Siri to "send a new email to Michael" and patiently wait for the assistant to prompt you for the message you wish to convey.

Help Siri Out to Improve Results

To simplify commands and assist Siri in understanding and pronouncing names, as well as defining contacts based on their roles and relationships, you have the ability to contribute. Enhance the assistant's responsiveness by using commands such as "Learn to say my name" or "Hey Siri, Luke is my son." Consequently, you can conveniently communicate by saying "Text Son, I am your father."

This also works for smart home devices. If Siri is consistently mishearing device names, change the name of the device within the Home app to avoid the problem in the future.

How to Work Around Siri

Dictate Messages Instead

Despite improvements made to other aspects of iOS in recent years, Siri has noticeably lagged behind in terms of progress. By simply avoiding the use of Siri and opting for manual command execution on your iPhone, you can ensure quick and efficient task completion without relying on Siri.

If you prefer to start dictation manually, you can rest assured that the same voice-to-text engine used by Siri will be at your disposal. To begin, open the conversation or message and locate the microphone icon situated in the bottom-right corner of the screen. On a Mac, simply press the microphone button. You can then start speaking and your words will be transcribed accordingly.

Use Spotlight Like a Boss

In a similar fashion to its macOS counterpart, Spotlight serves as the iPhone's formidable search feature. Its accessibility entails dragging down on the Home screen and engaging in typing. Conversely, a Mac user can swiftly summon it by inputting Command+Space. With its functionality, one can accomplish a myriad of tasks such as app launching, locating Settings, converting currency and units, initiating Shortcuts, finding various documents and photos, retrieving contacts, and so much more.

Think of it more as a command line than a search feature and you'll be amazed at how powerful it becomes.

Use Home Screen Widgets

The introduction of iOS 17 introduced interactive Home screen widgets, allowing users to interact with apps without having to open them. Furthermore, macOS Sonoma also brought the concept of widgets to the Mac platform. Widgets provide a more efficient and practical use of the Home screen compared to app icons (except for frequently used apps). Therefore, it is recommended to incorporate widgets into your Home screen, enabling you to access essential information at a glance.

Use Shortcuts to Build Workflows

Apple's Shortcuts offer personalized workflows that go beyond Siri's capabilities. By investing effort into their proper setup, you can accomplish a lot. Besides accessing pre-made Shortcuts, you can create your own to streamline repetitive tasks. These shortcuts can be customized to your preferences and thoughtfully crafted. Develop shortcuts to track Health data, check bus schedules, play a particular radio station on a designated speaker in a specific room, automate Low Power mode and other preferences, activate Home scenes, and much more.

These Shortcuts can be conveniently added to your Home screen, easily searched for, or even activated with Siri, making it simpler to execute multiple commands by just saying "run my Evening shortcut".

Why Does Siri Suck?

Apple follows its own path, regardless of whether it is seen as advantageous or disadvantageous. The company was the first to do away with optical drives and 3.5mm headphone jacks, long before others did. It abruptly replaced Google Maps with its own imperfect Maps app, and maintains its dominance over competitors by strictly controlling software rights within its closed ecosystem.

Replacing Siri with Google Assistant or Alexa might not be desirable, given the unique offerings of Apple's digital assistant. However, Siri has often been criticized for its performance compared to other options. An ex-Apple employee shared insights on this matter on Cult of Mac.

Apple seems to be making significant investments in more advanced generative AI technology, which could potentially enhance Siri in the future. In the meantime, users can consider using ChatGPT as an alternative to "replace" Siri.

Editor's P/S

As a Gen Z netizen, I have mixed feelings about Siri. On the one hand, I appreciate the convenience of being able to use voice commands to control my devices and access information. On the other hand, I find that Siri is often unreliable and frustrating to use.

One of the biggest problems with Siri is that it often misunderstands my commands. This can be especially frustrating when I'm trying to use Siri to do something important, like make a phone call or send a message. I've also found that Siri is not very good at understanding context. For example, if I ask Siri to play a song, it will often play a different song than the one I wanted.

Another problem with Siri is that it is very limited in what it can do. For example, Siri cannot access third-party apps like Google Maps or Spotify. This makes it difficult to use Siri to do things like get directions or listen to music.

Overall, I think Siri has the potential to be a very useful tool, but it still needs a lot of improvement. I hope that Apple will continue to develop Siri and make it more reliable and capable in the future.