What is Siri? Apple’s virtual assistant explained

Siri was introduced to the world in 2011 and has since become a staple of Apple devices.

First included on the iPhone 4S, Siri has been helping Apple users with their daily routines and has continued to feature on their flagship products. You may have heard of the term, or maybe even heard its familiar voice, but what is Siri and why is it useful? Keep reading on for our full breakdown.

What is Siri?

Siri is a virtual assistant that can be found across Apple’s devices and operating systems. Siri is voice-activated and works by recognising and responding to the user’s spoken prompts. For example, you can ask Siri for the time and it will be able to answer correctly.

Siri is powered by artificial intelligence and after continued use will adapt to individual user’s language and preferences and offer personalised results too.

What’s new with Siri with Apple Intelligence?

Apple has announced huge updates for Siri thanks to its new focus on Apple Intelligence and promises Siri has more information and can do more than ever before. 

One long-awaited feature is that you will no longer need to speak out loud to communicate with Siri. Instead, you can now communicate with Siri via typing just by double tapping the bottom of your iPhone screen. 

Siri has on-screen awareness too, which means it will understand exactly what you’re looking at and the context of what you’re saying. For example if a contact messages you their new address you can ask Siri to add this to their contact card without needing to move from the messaging app. 

Another example provided by Apple is you can ask Siri to find something your friend sent you but you can’t remember if it was in an email, a text or maybe from your photos, and Siri will know exactly where to look. 

You can even ask Siri to spruce up an existing image, straight from the Photos app, and it will be able to do this in a matter of seconds. 

Siri can also handle hundreds of new actions for in-app and across-app capabilities, which means you can find information from messages while on emails, move images straight into Journal and much more. Siri will be able to move seamlessly through the system, not just with Apple’s own apps but with third party apps too. 

Apple promises that although Siri is aware of your own personal context and boasts more information than before, this is all without compromising your privacy. 

In fact, Apple says its Apple Intelligence is built with privacy at its core. With on-device processing, Siri and AI is aware of your information but doesn’t necessarily collect it, which Apple claims sets a new standard for privacy in AI. 

What devices can use Siri?

Siri was first introduced by Apple back in 2011 and is now a big feature across most Apple devices. Siri can be found in the following:

• iPhone
• iPad
• Apple Watch
• AirPods
• HomePod
• Apple TV
• CarPlay
• MacBook

How can I access Siri?

On most Siri-supported devices, such as iPhones, iPads and MacBooks, you can get Siri’s attention by simply saying “Siri” or “Hey Siri” followed by your request or prompt. This is the easiest way to access Siri but you will need to ensure that this feature is enabled.

Most Apple devices also support alternative ways of getting Siri’s attention. For example, on AirPods you can either press and hold or double tap your AirPods (depending on the generation) to activate Siri without using a voice command. 

For Apple Watch you can either use raise to speak, which works on Watch Series 3 and later, or press and hold the Digital Crown. 

MacBooks also have a dedicated Siri button that can be found in either the top Menu bar or the Touch Bar.