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Is siri useful now?
- Thread starter LiquidGlassfan
- Start date
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It’s on par with other AI apps now, and the features they demo’d like being able to ask vague questions that need it to look at you emails, calendar, messages seem to work as promised.
So i’d say its actually useful and they didnt overpromise this time.
So i’d say its actually useful and they didnt overpromise this time.
southerndoc
Contributor
Just don't count on any basic tasks. It does complicated stuff decently well, but asking it to play a playlist won't work and asking it to call someone will trigger a "ready to call, 123-555-1212 using phone?" response. I can't get it to read text messages without first unlocking my iPhone.
Apple has a lot of work to do before it's ready for the masses.
Apple has a lot of work to do before it's ready for the masses.
PowerHarryG4
macrumors regular
It's been okay with basic things, but I still have a hard time trying to find things to use it for. If you use iMessage and the default mail app, then the indexing of those is probably it's best use. I've been able to ask it "Where was it I stayed in Bordeaux" and it searched my emails and found the address - will take some getting used to, but it's quite useful.
I wish it could be used to create automations using either shortcuts or automator. I tried to ask it to create me one, but it said it couldn't unfortunately.
I wish it could be used to create automations using either shortcuts or automator. I tried to ask it to create me one, but it said it couldn't unfortunately.
Nope, never been and never will be
ideal.dreams
macrumors 68020
It's still lagging when compared to rivals but Siri AI is leaps and bounds better than the Siri it's replacing in my opinion.
achappy
macrumors 6502
I don’t know if it’s because I have one of the phones that support the on-device Siri AI but it’s been pretty incredible for me. Things that I normally will open up Safari for and search I now just use Siri AI. Continuing the conversation by asking more questions refines the results.
I’m able to add/update/delete reminders or calendar events without opening up the Reminders or Calendar app. I can update titles, times, duration, and move to a different calendar/list and even add location all use Siri. Asking things like “what was the last thing my wife asked me” returns the exact message between all of the messages I have with her, including groups and then saying to send her an answer. Searching emails has been great. There’s been a few times when I was trying to send a message, Siri asked me clarification on what I was asking and I clarified and she continued on with my update.
It obviously has a few bugs like it prompts me to unlock my phone if I try to do anything while it’s locked. And I did have the “something went wrong” message once but I rebooted and since indexing is done it hasn’t happened. But overall I’ve even impressed with what it can now do.
I’m able to add/update/delete reminders or calendar events without opening up the Reminders or Calendar app. I can update titles, times, duration, and move to a different calendar/list and even add location all use Siri. Asking things like “what was the last thing my wife asked me” returns the exact message between all of the messages I have with her, including groups and then saying to send her an answer. Searching emails has been great. There’s been a few times when I was trying to send a message, Siri asked me clarification on what I was asking and I clarified and she continued on with my update.
It obviously has a few bugs like it prompts me to unlock my phone if I try to do anything while it’s locked. And I did have the “something went wrong” message once but I rebooted and since indexing is done it hasn’t happened. But overall I’ve even impressed with what it can now do.
Other than the playlist not working, those all sound like intentional security features.
The Game 161
macrumors Nehalem
use it daily
it works just as well as gemini in day to day usage. chatGPT will give you more detail overall but it's a different type of chatbot of course. siri al is in beta afterall so will only get better from here
it works just as well as gemini in day to day usage. chatGPT will give you more detail overall but it's a different type of chatbot of course. siri al is in beta afterall so will only get better from here
Le_Chiffre
macrumors 6502
nortonandreev
macrumors 68040
gtmead09
macrumors 65816
I just returned from a trip and had been asking ChatGPT to color adjust some pictures I took to make them look more professional. I had the thought of let's try this through Siri. It came back and said it could show me how to do it in photos, it wouldn't auto do it for me. So I am still seeing some limitations that prevent me from using it as my primary AI.
Personally, I use it all the time, and I think it is a massive upgrade. Pretty much everything people have been asking for.
It has the personal context, on screen awareness and app intents promised all the way back in 2024, so all of those checkboxes have been checked. No more complaining that your iPhone 16 doesn’t do what you bought it for, because now it does.
And they also got rid of the number one complaint I have seen for over a decade about Siri, the dreaded “Here’s what I found on the web for that”.
And so far within my testing, it is significantly, significantly better than its main rival in Alexa+. And yes, that is its main rival.
Anyone who was expecting this to be ChatGPT but Apple obviously have their expectations way out of line. That’s not what this is, it’s not what it was ever promised to be.
It is a personal context aware assistant first, chat bot… like… fifth.
Being able to quickly hold the power button on my phone and say something like “when was that order supposed to arrive?” And it knows exactly which order I was talking about, exactly how to find the arrival date and the order number, that stuff is extremely useful.
And it will be even more useful this fall once third-party applications are allowed to integrate with it.
It has the personal context, on screen awareness and app intents promised all the way back in 2024, so all of those checkboxes have been checked. No more complaining that your iPhone 16 doesn’t do what you bought it for, because now it does.
And they also got rid of the number one complaint I have seen for over a decade about Siri, the dreaded “Here’s what I found on the web for that”.
And so far within my testing, it is significantly, significantly better than its main rival in Alexa+. And yes, that is its main rival.
Anyone who was expecting this to be ChatGPT but Apple obviously have their expectations way out of line. That’s not what this is, it’s not what it was ever promised to be.
It is a personal context aware assistant first, chat bot… like… fifth.
Being able to quickly hold the power button on my phone and say something like “when was that order supposed to arrive?” And it knows exactly which order I was talking about, exactly how to find the arrival date and the order number, that stuff is extremely useful.
And it will be even more useful this fall once third-party applications are allowed to integrate with it.
VSMacOne
macrumors 603
It's infinitely more useful now. Still discovering all the tricks, but it's surprisingly good. The only complaint I have is where Siri looks for sources. I've had to double check some things (local gas prices, etc) because Siri was using outdated information. But some of it I'm sure is just beta pains. Overall, it's a major improvement in my book.
Does “Siri AI” stand for Siri Artificial Intelligence or Siri Apple Intelligence?
And is Apple Intelligence still a thing or was it replaced by this “Siri AI”?
And is Apple Intelligence still a thing or was it replaced by this “Siri AI”?
sw1tcher
macrumors 604
Siri: "Here's what I found on the web."
A.W..
macrumors newbie
The shortcuts app has Siri AI built in.
TonyC28
macrumors 68040
I hope the calling thing isn’t intentional. I’ve always been able to say “Siri, call my wife” and the phone would dial without me having to confirm it.
adrianlondon
macrumors 604
I was using it for simple things in iOS 26, then in iOS 27 everything slowed down as it seemed to need to go off-device to understand anything.
Since the latest beta it's back to its usual speed.
I mainly use Siri to run shortcuts, turn lights on/off, FaceTime people, add shopping items to a Reminders list and set timers.
Since the latest beta it's back to its usual speed.
I mainly use Siri to run shortcuts, turn lights on/off, FaceTime people, add shopping items to a Reminders list and set timers.
It’s not, it was in the release notes as a known issue for the first three betas.
Again, youpeople should read those, when you’re beta testing, it’s actually, you know, kind of useful to know what Apple already knows about and what they don’t.
TonyC28
macrumors 68040
capamac
macrumors 6502a
zarmanto
macrumors 65816
Depends upon what you want to do with it. Personally, I'm not overly impressed so far... but that could be because my imagination for what Siri AI should be capable of, exceeds both what Apple promised and what the technology is ready to do right now. It is somewhat better than the previous version of Siri, at some things.
One area where it commonly fails is pretty nearly anything related to Music and playlists.
I asked Siri the other day to count the number of songs in the active playlist -- an easily discoverable piece of metadata -- and it gave me a wrong answer; the playlist in question has over three hundred tracks and Siri claimed it was something like 130. My first thought was: maybe that's the cap on how many tracks Music can recognize and shuffle -- which is an actual issue I've observed in the past.
So, I tried changing the context a bit, and opened the playlist in question so that it was right in front of me and clearly in memory, and asked again. Siri said five. I'm like, "Do what, now?" I looked at the screen and realized that this was the number of tracks displayed on screen. The screen awareness feature had kicked in, and it got the answer wrong this time for an entirely different reason. I tried a third time, with the playlist scrolled all the way to the bottom, so that the actual count was displayed on screen... and received yet another wrong answer. (I don't recall what that last answer was, offhand.)
Edit: I went back and tried it a couple more times just now, so that I could file my bug report via the Feedback app. To my surprise, this time when I redid the "scroll to the bottom so the count is on screen" test... it got it right! Then, just to add a bit of irony to the whole tale, it somehow failed to log that last correct answer to the Siri conversation history. (Womp, womp.) I still added the screenshot of the history to the feedback report, but also added a comment about the missing conversation. Weird stuff.
So yeah... Siri AI certainly has some peculiar limitations, which Apple still needs to work out.
One area where it commonly fails is pretty nearly anything related to Music and playlists.
I asked Siri the other day to count the number of songs in the active playlist -- an easily discoverable piece of metadata -- and it gave me a wrong answer; the playlist in question has over three hundred tracks and Siri claimed it was something like 130. My first thought was: maybe that's the cap on how many tracks Music can recognize and shuffle -- which is an actual issue I've observed in the past.
So, I tried changing the context a bit, and opened the playlist in question so that it was right in front of me and clearly in memory, and asked again. Siri said five. I'm like, "Do what, now?" I looked at the screen and realized that this was the number of tracks displayed on screen. The screen awareness feature had kicked in, and it got the answer wrong this time for an entirely different reason. I tried a third time, with the playlist scrolled all the way to the bottom, so that the actual count was displayed on screen... and received yet another wrong answer. (I don't recall what that last answer was, offhand.)
Edit: I went back and tried it a couple more times just now, so that I could file my bug report via the Feedback app. To my surprise, this time when I redid the "scroll to the bottom so the count is on screen" test... it got it right! Then, just to add a bit of irony to the whole tale, it somehow failed to log that last correct answer to the Siri conversation history. (Womp, womp.) I still added the screenshot of the history to the feedback report, but also added a comment about the missing conversation. Weird stuff.
So yeah... Siri AI certainly has some peculiar limitations, which Apple still needs to work out.
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capamac
macrumors 6502a
All these things do is predict the next likely word fragment.
