Siri gets supercharged with watchOS 5 on Apple Watch

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in Apple Watch edited July 2018
Siri got some seriously useful enhancements in watchOS 5, going a long way towards making the Apple Watch more independent. AppleInsider delves in to see how Apple's personal assistant will help out in the forthcoming update.






One of the most debated changes coming in watchOS 5 is "Raise to Speak". This allows you to chat with Siri just by raising your wrist, and without having to utter those well-known keywords -- Hey, Siri.

There are clear benefits to this, though in our testing we've inadvertently triggered Siri far more than we've meant to. Luckily, for those that dislike the change, it can easily be disabled within Settings.

A feature we've been dying for for ages was also added, which is independent volume controls. In watchOS 4, Siri volume was controlled by the speaker volume of your Apple Watch. Now, speaker volume, and Siri volume, can each be set independently.

Siri Apple Watch


The Siri watch face got quite the revamp this year, complete with a new, alternate color scheme. More data sources than ever will be fed into the Siri watch face, with photo memories, live sports scores, and heart rate data all easily glanceable.

Additional data from third-party apps will also show up, making it more intuitive. Third-party apps that you don't want to see can also be toggled off in the Watch app on your iPhone.

Of the more widely-used Siri features, is new support for a variety of different commands. Siri now knows more about different topics (famous people, food, motorsports), Shortcuts, and (as we were hoping for!) - the ability to find your phone/iPad.

Siri Apple Watch

All changes covered:


  • Raise to speak

  • Independent volume control

  • Updated Siri watch face

  • Third party apps in the Siri watch face

  • Siri Shortcuts

  • New areas of knowledge
    This includes: questions about famous people, questions about food, and questions about motorsports

  • Find iPhone/iPad

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    hozo1hozo1 Posts: 1member
    All well and good if Siri actually worked well.  I love Apple, but this technology lags vs. the competition.  Unfortunately, Siri is the worst of Apple and does not come close to the brilliance of the brand.  Fix Siri?  They need to start over. 
    newBelieverJaiOh81williamlondon1983
  • Reply 2 of 10
    Anilu_777Anilu_777 Posts: 526member
    Siri needs to learn me and keep that data locked only to me via my iCloud account. That way she can help me with what I use and need and learn more about my usage but doesn’t have to aggregate with other people’s. Personally, I don’t care about motor sports but do care about photography, for example. So I’d ask her about photo trips and info. 
    watto_cobraAlex1Nbackstab
  • Reply 3 of 10
    kruegdudekruegdude Posts: 340member
    hozo1 said:
    All well and good if Siri actually worked well.  I love Apple, but this technology lags vs. the competition.  Unfortunately, Siri is the worst of Apple and does not come close to the brilliance of the brand.  Fix Siri?  They need to start over. 
    Sigh, you haven’t been paying attention to the latest on Apple and Siri. 
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 10
    frantisekfrantisek Posts: 756member
    So people can now ask how much of my daily calories income has this Big Mac?
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 10
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,877member
    hozo1 said:
    All well and good if Siri actually worked well.  I love Apple, but this technology lags vs. the competition.  Unfortunately, Siri is the worst of Apple and does not come close to the brilliance of the brand.  Fix Siri?  They need to start over. 
    What problems are you having? Mine seems to work. I use it for texts, reminders, appts, math, and HomeKit. 

    Some of the others here who use multiple digital assistants report them being about the same.
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 10
    toysandmetoysandme Posts: 243member
    Video won’t play-:( 
  • Reply 7 of 10
    toysandmetoysandme Posts: 243member
    The video is finally running properly. Looking at the new features I don’t see anything that would tell my watch to warn me when I forget my phone at home or the restaurant. The very first Pebble would buzz my arm to get my attention but the current Apple Watch simply displays a red rectangle with a line across it to tell me my phone is out of Bluetooth range. Apple, it’s time to catch up with the first generation Pebble!
    caladanianJaiOh81
  • Reply 8 of 10
    stukestuke Posts: 122member
    Siri on watchOS, Siri on iPhone, Siri on...

    All I want to know is has she stopped saying “This is what I’ve found on the web for ...”?

    If (when?) Siri can grow up and match Alexa et al., I’ll consider her useful. 
    JaiOh81williamlondon
  • Reply 9 of 10
    matrix077matrix077 Posts: 868member
    stuke said:
    Siri on watchOS, Siri on iPhone, Siri on...

    All I want to know is has she stopped saying “This is what I’ve found on the web for ...”?

    If (when?) Siri can grow up and match Alexa et al., I’ll consider her useful. 
    You’re using it wrong. 
    fastasleepwatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 10
    Lab4UsLab4Us Posts: 32member
    toysandme said:
    The video is finally running properly. Looking at the new features I don’t see anything that would tell my watch to warn me when I forget my phone at home or the restaurant. The very first Pebble would buzz my arm to get my attention but the current Apple Watch simply displays a red rectangle with a line across it to tell me my phone is out of Bluetooth range. Apple, it’s time to catch up with the first generation Pebble!
    That would be the Pebble that went out of business? (I had one; loved the battery life, iWatch puts it to shame).
    watto_cobra
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