Many of us will know how annoying our virtual assistants can be, listening in to everything we do ready and raring to “help us” perform a variety of tasks, but how often do you use yours other than to perhaps call someone? In this short post, I’ll share a few lesser-known time-saving tricks you can use with Siri to help speed things up.
1. Quick Maths
Why not just ask Siri to do the Maths for you? Many Primary schools I’ve worked with have used this simple activity to inspire pupils to ‘beat Siri’ with mental Maths problems, but we can use it ourselves too.
2. Quick Conversions
Siri is also loaded with Wolfram Alpha so if you’re trying to convert your kilos to stones or whatever conversion you’re trying to do relating to mass, weight, time, length etc. Simply say, “Hey Siri, what is 33 metres in yards” or whatever conversion you want and hey presto, Siri will do it.
3. Make a note
Need to make a quick note? Just say “Hey Siri, take a note”. Siri will respond, add the information you want into the note and the note is taken and added to your Notes app!
4. Remind me?
I’m terrible at remembering things so why not use Siri to help you. “Hey Siri, remind me to go to the Dr’s tomorrow at 10 am” or whatever it is you need reminding on and away you go!
5. Open up!
If you’re like me, you’ll have hundreds of apps on your iPad or iPhone – rather than scrolling through pages and pages of apps, simply ask Siri to open it for you. All you have to do is say, “Hey Siri, open Keynote” (or whatever app you want opening) and away you go!
And finally… Name that tune
Ok, so not exactly a productivity tool but something that I find invaluable, if you’re listening to a song and want to know what it is, just ask Siri. Siri comes with Shazam built right in (the app, not the superhero) and so can quickly and easily find the song you’re after.
Siri can do so much more besides this too, such as setting timers (great for cooking), alarms, setting focus mode, setting a focus mode, e.g. Do Not Disturb, give directions – the list goes on. My youngest even worked out that you can get Siri to change how it pronounces your name! You can even create your own Siri Shortcuts, automations and can even use Siri to help you generate your own Haiku, True or False games and much, much more. I’m sure you’ll have some favourite uses too. I’d love to hear them in the replies below.
