Watch: 50 most useful Siri commands

AppleInsider

Apple's Siri understands a huge number of commands and queries, from relatively simple tasks like turning on HomeKit-connected lights to more complex requests like translating words into foreign languages. AppleInsider went through the list and picked out 50 of the most useful.

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boondock

This would be perfect to have a related text article. I get it video is the wave of the future. But now I have to write them down to reference them again. 

techrider

Some of my favorites are... 'remind me to X when I get to work' (or home), and 'remind me to Y when I leave work' (or home)

Soli

boondock said:

This would be perfect to have a related text article. I get it video is the wave of the future. But now I have to write them down to reference them again. 

Unlike the previous video "article" that was comparing 4k@60 video, this one would be very helpful as a list of commands.

randominternetperson

Hey Siri, summarize this video for me.

douglas bailey

Could we get this as a written list?

macseeker

Wow! This video is in 1440p. Neat.

cgWerks

And... this from a company that thinks AI is the future and started into an autonomous car project? Should we be scared now?
A few useful tips in there, though. It just sucks that you have to say things the right way, all too often. And, it's always when my hands are full or I'm driving, that Siri just can't seem to figure out what I want and I can't figure out how to say it.

But, I'm still waiting for, 'Hey, Siri... answer the %$*(# phone!' to work.

The podcast search one is especially funny though, as most of Apple's search capabilities aren't often good enough to find what you're looking for, even if you know exact words in the title. Apple could ***REALLY*** use to hire a few Google search people to make their search engines at least as good as Alta Vista was back in the 90s. Sheesh!

jalapenino

Also in for a list. This would be much more suited to a text article than ANOTHER video to sit through.

BuffyzDead

Maps & Directions; Give me directions to Best Buy in Seattle, Washington Directions to Moms house Show directions to Bobs Taco Shed in Transit Where is Apple Store in Phoenix Address Book Querying Contacts; What’s Michael’s address? What is Susan Park’s phone number? When is my wife’s birthday? Show Jennifer’s home email address Finding Contacts Show Jason Russell Find people named Park Who is Michael Manning? Relationships My mom is Susan Park Michael Manning is my brother Call my brother at work Calendars; Adding Events; Set up a meeting at 9 Set up a meeting with Michael at 9 Meet with Lisa at noon Set up a meeting about hiring tomorrow at 9am New appointment with Susan Park Friday at 3 Schedule a planning meeting at 8:30 today in the boardroom Changing events Move my 3pm meeting to 4:30 Reschedule my appointment with Dr. Manning to next Monday at 9am Add Lisa to my meeting with Jason Cancel the budget review meeting Asking about events What does the rest of my day look like? What’s on my calendar for Friday? When is my next appointment? When am I meeting with Michael? Where is my next meeting? Alarms Setting Alarms; Wake me up tomorrow at 7am Set an alarm for 6:30am Wake me up in 8 hours Change my 6:30 alarm to 6:45 Turn off my 6:30 alarm Delete my 7:30 alarm Checking the Clock What time is it? What time is it in Berlin? What is today’s date? What’s the date this Saturday? Using a Timer Set the timer for ten minutes Show the timer Pause the timer Resume Reset the timer Stop it Email; Sending Messages; Email Lisa about the trip Email Jennifer about the change in plans New email to Susan Park Mail Dad about the rent check Email Dr. Manning and say I got the forms, thanks Mail Lisa and Jason about the party and say I had a great time Checking Messages Check email Any new email from Michael today? Show new mail about the lease Show the email from Lisa yesterday Responding to Messages Reply Dear Susan sorry about the late payment Call him at work Friends Checking Up on Friends; Where’s Jason? Where is my sister? Is my wife at home? Where are all my friends? Who is here? Who is near me? Maps Directions; How do I get home? Show 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino California Directions to my dad’s work Local Businesses Find coffee near me Where is Starbucks? Find some burger joints in Baltimore Find a gas station within walking distance Good Mexican restaurants around here Messages Sending Texts; Tell Susan I’ll be right there Send a message to Jason Russell Send a message to Lisa saying how about tomorrow Tell Jennifer the show was great Send a message to Susan on her mobile saying I’ll be late Send a message to 408 555 1212 Text Jason and Lisa where are you? Reading Texts Read my new messages Read it again Replying to Texts Reply that’s great news Tell him I’ll be there in 10 minutes Call her Music Playback; Play The Light of the Sun Play Trouble Play Taking Back Sunday shuffled Play Alicia Keys Play some blues Play my party mix Shuffle my roadtrip playlist Play Pause Skip Notes Creating and finding notes; Note that I spent $12 on lunch Note: check out that new Alicia Keys album Find my restaurant note Create a reading list note Add Tom Sawyer to my reading list note Phone Phone calls; Call Jason Call Jennifer Wright mobile Call Susan on her work phone Call 408 555 1212 Call home FaceTime Lisa Reminders Requesting reminders; Remind me to call mom Remind me to call my mom when I get home Remember to take an umbrella Remind me take my medicine at 6am tomorrow Remind me to pick up flowers when I leave here Remind me when I leave to call Jason Remind me to finish the report by 6 Stocks Checking Stocks; What’s Apple’s stock price? What is Apple’s PE ratio? What did Yahoo close at today? How is the Nikkei doing? How are the markets doing? What is the Dow at? Weather Checking the Forecast; What’s the weather for today? What’s the weather for tomorrow? Will it rain in Cupertino this week? Check next week’s forecast for Burlington What’s the forecast for this evening? How’s the weather in Tampa right now? How hot will it be in Palm Springs this weekend? What’s the high for Anchorage on Thursday? What’s the temperature outside? How windy is it out there? When is sunrise in Paris? Websearch Looking up information; Search the web for Bora Bora Search for vegetarian pasta recipes Search the web for best cable plans Google the war of 1812 Search Wikipedia for Abraham Lincoln Search for news about the World Cup Bing Alicia Keys Using Wolfram Alpha How many calories in a bagel? What is an 18% tip on $86.74 for four people? Who’s buried in Grant’s tomb? How long do dogs live? What is the Gossamer Condor? What’s the square root of 128? How many dollars is €45? What was the Best Picture of 1983? How many days until Christmas? How far away is the Sun? When is the next solar eclipse? Show me the Orion constellation What’s the population of Jamaica? How high is Mt. Everest? How deep is the Atlantic ocean? What’s the price of gasoline in Chicago?

john.b

BuffyzDead said:

<<Wall of text>>

Formatting is a thing.

toomanyoranges

john.b said:

BuffyzDead said:

<<Wall of text>>

Formatting is a thing.

It was just a query problem, they needed to say “give me a list of commands with formatting” 

dtb200

cgWerks said:

And... this from a company that thinks AI is the future and started into an autonomous car project? Should we be scared now?
A few useful tips in there, though. It just sucks that you have to say things the right way, all too often. And, it's always when my hands are full or I'm driving, that Siri just can't seem to figure out what I want and I can't figure out how to say it.

But, I'm still waiting for, 'Hey, Siri... answer the %$*(# phone!' to work.

The podcast search one is especially funny though, as most of Apple's search capabilities aren't often good enough to find what you're looking for, even if you know exact words in the title. Apple could ***REALLY*** use to hire a few Google search people to make their search engines at least as good as Alta Vista was back in the 90s. Sheesh!

bloodshotrollin'red

Apple using CalDev in the 21st century is a real bind. Siri still cannot cope with multiple same day reminders; i.e., Remind me to take my medication every (state a number) hours per day. Anachronistic, or what?

cgWerks

dtb200 said:

That's awesome... pretty much.

bloodshotrollin'red said:

Apple using CalDev in the 21st century is a real bind. Siri still cannot cope with multiple same day reminders; i.e., Remind me to take my medication every (state a number) hours per day. Anachronistic, or what?

I'm sure it will keep improving, but this is my problem too. Each time I try to use Siri for something, it doesn't work, or half-works, or I have to remember some syntax that I can't ever seem to remember when I actually need it.

Just yesterday, I was enjoying a drive back home in the car and decided to listen to some music... so I asked Siri to play my Favorites playlist. Siri says, 'Now playing your Favorites playlist'... 'Oh oh, Steve. Looks like you're not on Wi-Fi and haven't enabled cellular data in Settings.' (Music Settings)

What the heck? I can manually fire up Music, go to that playlist, and start playing. All the music in that playlist is downloaded locally.

Or, the other day on the way back (at night) from a friends home, I hit a road that was closed where it connected to the main road I knew. I turned around and headed another way, but wasn't familiar with the roads. I tried every command I could think of to get Siri to give me directions home. I finally had to just pull over and bring up Maps and do it myself.

On the bright side, since Apple mucked up Control Center, I guess I can use Siri to *actually* turn Wi-Fi/Bluetooth on and off... if I can remember the command and don't mind everyone around thinking I've finally gone nuts mumbling to myself about Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

And, as I said above, if the tech wackos convince the gov't idiots... soon this kind of technology will be tossing around several thousand pounds of metal on our streets. I guess it's nearly time to head to some remote bunker.