Starting Siri

Siri comes to life with the press of a button.

Start Siri: Press the Home button until Siri appears. If you didn’t turn Siri on when you set up iPad, go to Settings > General > Siri.

You’ll hear two quick beeps and see “What can I help you with?” on the screen.

Just start speaking. The microphone icon lights up to let you know that Siri hears you talking. Once you’ve started a dialogue with Siri, tap the microphone icon to talk to it again.

Siri waits for you to stop speaking, but you can also tap the microphone icon to tell Siri you’re done. This is useful when there’s a lot of background noise. It can also speed up your conversation with Siri, since Siri won’t have to wait for your pause.

When you stop speaking, Siri displays what it heard and provides a response. Siri often includes related info that might be useful. If the info is related to an app—for example, a text message you’ve composed, or a location you asked for—just tap the display to open the app for details and further action.

Siri may ask you for clarification in order to complete a request. For example, tell Siri to “Remind me to call mom,” and Siri may ask “What time would you like me to remind you?”

Cancel a request: Say “cancel,” tap , or press the Home button .

Telling Siri about yourself

The more Siri knows about you, the more it can use your information to help you. Siri gets your information from your personal info card (“My Info”) in Contacts.

Put your home and work addresses on your card, so you can say things like “Tell me how to get home.”

Siri also wants to know about the important people in your life, so put those relationships on your personal info card—Siri can help you. For example, if you tell Siri to text your sister, Siri asks you who your sister is (if you don’t already have that info on your card). Siri adds that relationship to your personal info card so it doesn’t have to ask next time.

Create cards in Contacts for all your important relationships, and include information such as phone numbers, email addresses, home and work addresses, and nicknames you like to use.

Onscreen guide

Siri prompts you with examples of things you can say, right on screen. Ask Siri “what can you do” or tap when Siri first appears. Siri displays a list of the apps it supports, with an example request. Tap an item in the list to see more examples.

Handsfree Siri

You can use Siri with a compatible headset, such as the Apple EarPods with Remote & Mic (available separately), and other wired or Bluetooth headsets.

To continue a conversation with Siri, press and hold the button each time you want to talk.

When you use a headset, Siri speaks its responses to you. Siri reads back text messages and email messages that you’ve dictated before sending them. This gives you a chance to change the message if you want. Siri also reads back the subjects of reminders before creating them.

Location Services

Because Siri knows locations like “current,” “home,” and “work” (if your iPad Wi-Fi + cellular model supports this feature), it can remind you to do a certain task when you leave a location or arrive at a location. Tell Siri “Remind me to call my daughter when I leave the office,” and Siri does just that.

Location information isn’t tracked or stored outside iPad. You can still use Siri if you turn Location Services off, but Siri won’t do anything that requires location information.

Accessibility

Siri is accessible to blind and visually impaired users through VoiceOver, the screen reader built into iOS. VoiceOver describes aloud what’s onscreen—including any text in Siri’s responses—so you can use iPad without seeing it.

Turning on VoiceOver causes even your notifications to be read aloud for you. For more information, see VoiceOver.

Setting options for Siri

• Language: Select the language you want to use with Siri.

• Voice Feedback: By default, Siri speaks its responses only when you use Siri with a headset. If you want Siri to always speak its responses, set this option to Always.

• My Info: Let Siri know which card in Contacts contains your personal info. See Telling Siri about yourself.

You can also disable Siri by turning on restrictions. See Restrictions.

If Siri is having trouble

Siri may sometimes have trouble understanding you—in a noisy environment, for example. If you speak with an accent, it can take Siri some time to get used to your voice. If Siri doesn’t hear you exactly right, you can make corrections.

Siri shows what it heard you say, along with its response.

Correct what Siri hears you say: Tap the bubble showing what Siri heard you say. Edit your request by typing, or tap on the keyboard to dictate.

For information about using dictation, see Dictation.

If some of the text is underlined in blue, tap it and Siri suggests some alternatives. Tap one of the suggestions, or replace the text by typing or dictating.

Correct Siri by voice: Tap , then restate or clarify your request. For example, “I meant Boston.”

When correcting Siri, don’t say what you don’t want—just tell Siri what you do want.

• Change it to: Call me tomorrow.

• Add: See you there question mark.

• No, send it to Bob.

• No. (to keep the message without sending it)

• Cancel.

To have Siri read the message to you, say “Read it back to me” or “Read me the message.” If it’s correct, say something like “Yes, send it.”

Noisy environments

In a noisy environment, hold iPad close to your mouth, but don’t talk directly into the bottom edge. Continue to speak clearly and naturally. Tap when you finish speaking.

Network connection

Siri might tell you it’s having trouble connecting to the network. Because Siri relies on Apple servers for voice recognition and other services, you need to have a good 3G, 4G, or LTE cellular connection or a Wi-Fi connection to the Internet.