How to make siri understand you better

Siri isn’t all that great to begin with, but here are some ways to at least improve the Siri experience and get her to understand you better when shouting voice commands.

You’re probably better off going with either Alexa or Google Assistant for your voice-control needs, but we get it—if you have an iPhone, using Siri as your main voice assistant just makes sense. However, if you’ve been having some issues lately getting her to hear you properly, there are some things you can do to better the situation.

Redo the Voice Training for “Hey Siri”

If you take advantage of “Hey Siri” on your iPhone, you could benefit from redoing the voice training that you were prompted to do when you first set up the feature.

Just open up the Settings app, tap the “Siri & Search” category, and then turn off the “Listen for ‘Hey Siri’” toggle.

Wait a few seconds, and turn the toggle back on. You’ll be prompted to set up Hey Siri, so just hit the “Continue” button.

Next, you’ll be asked to say “Hey Siri” a few times (as well as a couple of other phrases) so that Siri can learn your voice. One trick that may help to optimize this is to place your iPhone on a table a little way away from you, but still within eyesight so that you can read the screen. This supposedly helps Hey Siri to hear you better if you ever call for her when your iPhone isn’t directly in front of you.

When you’re done, hit the “Finish” button.

Odds are that retraining Siri will fix many of the problems you’re having, but we do have a few more tips for making Siri easier to use…

Take Advantage of Phonetic Contact Names

Chances are you have a friend with a weird name that’s either difficult to pronounce or spelled in an odd way. Chances are even greater that Siri butchers the pronunciation of the name every time and has a hard time understanding the name when you say it. Luckily, you can train her to hear it correctly.

To start, summon Siri and say “Show me [name].” In this case, we’ll use Tom Hage as an example because Siri pronounces it as “Hay-je,” when it should be pronounced “Hay-gee.”

After Siri brings up the contact info for that person, say “You’re pronouncing it wrong.” Siri will then ask you how to pronounce the first name (Tom). Say “Tom.”

Siri then brings up a selection of different pronunciations. Since “Tom” is a pretty common name, Siri won’t have much trouble pronouncing it correctly. Choose the best pronunciation by tapping on “Select” next to the best one.

You’ll then repeat this same process, but for the last name (Hage).

From now on, Siri will know who you’re talking about when you say that person’s name, rather than get confused by the pronunciation.

Keep in mind that you can also teach Siri who someone is by a different name, such as referring to “Jane Smith” as your mom, instead of having to say her name.

Give Smarthome Devices Unique, but Simple Names

If you use Siri to control smarthome devices around your house, consider giving these devices simple names to make voice commands a bit easier.

It’s possible you already did this when you first set up your smarthome gear, but if not, we recommended doing so. You can rename devices from the device’s own app or within the Home app.

Obviously, the steps for renaming devices within their own apps varies, so we can’t detail all those here. But in the Home app, you can long-press or 3D Touch a device and then tap the “Details” option. From there, tap on the name of the device, and then type any name you want.

For example, if you originally named your thermostat “Ecobee3,” you’re probably better off changing it to “Thermostat” so you can just tell Siri to turn the “Thermostat” down to 68. More than likely it’s already named something simple and logical, but if not, now is your chance to do that.

Remember: You Don’t Have to Pause After Saying “Hey Siri”

If you have Hey Siri enabled for hands-free voice activation, remember that you don’t have to awkwardly pause after saying the wake word.

It’s a common misconception, though, and many users wait a second or two before shouting out their voice command to give Siri time to begin listening. The truth, however, is that she begins listening the instant you say “Hey Siri.”

The same also goes for other voice assistants, like Alexa and Google Assistant.

Published September 14, 2020

Share this post

One of the dirty little secrets of the smart home is that all those voice-controlled digital assistants like Alexa and Siri are in cahoots against you. Or, at least, it often feels that way when you struggle to find the precisely correct string of words to get Siri to turn off a smart light without its mishearing and balking—or triggering some other action and causing you to Rickroll yourself. (I humbly note that naming your smart light bulb “Vestibule Hue light two” will always end in tears.) As with many smart-home devices, there’s a terrific and free cure-all that lets you clean up all potential confusion and keep Siri in particular on track: Apple’s Shortcuts app.

Apple iPhones and iPads come with the built-in ability to control smart gear using a software platform called HomeKit. And all HomeKit-compatible equipment can be consolidated into one app, Home, which comes preinstalled on your iOS device. Using Home, you can set up and then control all your various devices, individually or as a group, put them on a schedule so that they perform various actions at set times, and have one or more of them trigger one another via Automations and Scenes (these are similar to Alexa’s Routines.) If you’re all good using the Home app (or the various other companion apps for setting up smart devices) to do that, read no further. But if you want the ability to use voice commands without being stymied by Siri’s tin ear, download the free Shortcuts app. (You can customize voice commands for Alexa in a similar way; see “How I Use Alexa to Dunk on My Kids” for details.)

Shortcuts is a clever app that speeds up actions you regularly take on your phone—say, sending a text message to a friend—by cutting out all the steps you usually have to go through to make that happen (unlock your phone, go to the home screen, tap Messages, find your friend’s name, poke the text box, type a message, hit Send). More important for smart-home users, it lets you customize the specific words necessary to get Siri to perform all those actions, which is really the special sauce: Instead of needing to say a precise, often obtuse combination of words that HomeKit or Siri normally requires, such as “Hey Siri, turn on number one Hue Light in the living room and set it to yellow and dim it at 50%,” you can simply pick a short and easy-to-recall trigger word or phrase like “Hey Siri, it’s nap time.”

Welcome to Smart Home Week

All week we’ll be putting together staff recommendations and expert advice on the very best in smart home.

Here’s something I created that involves multiple devices, which ordinarily takes several individual commands. In order to get Siri to shut off all the lights, a smart outlet that controls a window AC, and a smart switch to a ceiling fan in my living room, I created a Scene in Home that does all those things at once. Then I created a Shortcut to customize a simple phrase that triggers that Scene. It sounds complex, but the process took just a minute or so, and now all I have to do is say “Hey Siri, shut it down.” It’s easy to remember and easy to say—and more important, it doesn’t cause Siri to misunderstand me, go into a tizzy, and begin searching the web or asking me to repeat myself endlessly. It’s a perfect combo.

Here’s how to set one up.

If you want several devices to be involved, you should first create a Scene in the Home app.

1. At the main screen, tap the + in the upper right, select Add Scene, select Custom, and then give it a brief name.
2. Tap Add Accessories and then tap any of the devices you want to adjust simultaneously.
3. Hit Done and then select each accessory to adjust it to whatever final state you want it to be in—on or off at a specific setting or color for a light, locked for a door, and so on.
4. Slide the toggle to green so that this Scene is a Favorite. That way, you get a button that appears on the dashboard or home screen of Home for easy access.

Then it’s time to make it all voice friendly using Shortcuts.

1. Open the Shortcuts app and tap Create Shortcut.
2. Press Add Action and tap the Apps button to get a full listing of all the compatible options.
3. Tap the Home app icon and then select your new Scene.
4. Touch Next and then give your Shortcut a pithy, memorable name. Something with pizzazz, like “Engage!” or “Work it!” or “By the power of Grayskull!”

From now on, you can trigger it simply by saying “Hey Siri, [your pizzazzed Shortcut name here].” Tip: You can play around and have multiple Scenes trigger simultaneously but also keep adding in other elements from other apps to your Shortcut, such as music or text messages or mapping directions, and on and on. It’s super powerful and addicting. Hey Siri, let’s dance!

It’s Smart-Home Week at Wirecutter! Read more about all the ways your home can become more intelligent.

Apple’s personal voice assistant, Siri, is a powerful voice input-based search tool, natural command and dictation platform, and, as we’ve recently learned, a world renowned beat-boxing champion with an impressive skill set that’s yet to be reckoned with.

But like all forms of technology, Siri, too, carries her own weight in the form of a hefty learning curve — perhaps not so much in terms of what she can do — once the pocket-sized robot catches on to your algorithms, of course; but rather, more so in terms of how accurately and expediently she can do it.

Sure, just for the record, when you’re setting up a brand spanking new iPhone or iPad fresh out-of-the-box, Siri will catch on relatively quickly, and will learn from you, pretty much akin to one of the most notoriously best-behaving students in a classroom.

However, over time, unfortunately, Siri tends to become less and less effective — if you haven’t already noticed. She might become slow-to-the-punch, err, late-to-the-game, whatever you want to call it. But hey, there’s always a room to grow for all of us, right? Even our friendly, pocket-dwelling personal assistants!

And, to that end — if and when Siri seems to be getting a bit rusty, you can always re-train her to learn from you, all over again, so that her responses turn out to be perhaps a bit more helpful than they are humorous. And today we have the solution for you, comes to us courtesy of Cult of Mac’s Ste Smith, which we have outlined below.

1. Tap Settings.

2. Tap General.

3. Tap Siri.

4. Switch off Hey Siri.

5. Switch Hey Siri back on.

6. Tap Set Up Now and follow the prompts to set up and retrain Siri.

In essence, by re-training Siri (with the sound of your personal, unique voice), the voice-activated “Hey Siri” feature will become more sensitive and responsive to whatever you throw her way. Furthermore, re-training Siri will improve the overall experience of how effectively she translates your spoken words into actionable, fully and accurately executed commands.

These tricks, of course, are most ideal for people who’ve been experiencing issues with Siri misinterpreting their words, and thereby coming to conclusions — or executing actions — that are, well, perhaps a bit far and between what we actually expected her to do for us.

I guess you always have to keep in mind: no matter how intelligent we think our technology is; no matter how much it’s purpose and intent is to improve upon and expedite the happenings of our daily lives, there’s always going to be a room to grow. New medians by which we can ultimately fine-tune and improve upon these utilities — such as Siri — will always surface, and thereby ensure we’re always getting the most out of the products that are intended to make our lives easier.

What’s your favorite Siri feature? Let us know in the comments.

If you have an iPhone, using Siri as your main voice assistant just makes sense. But, if you’ve been having some issues lately getting her to hear you properly, here are some things you can do:

Redo the Voice Training for “Hey Siri”

If you take advantage of “Hey Siri” on your iPhone, you could benefit from redoing the voice training that you were actuated to do when you first set up the feature.

• Open up the Settings app, tap the “Siri & Search” category, and then turn off the “Listen for ‘Hey Siri’” toggle.

• Wait a few seconds, and turn the toggle back on. You’ll be prompted to set up Hey Siri, so just hit the “Continue” button.

Next, you’ll be asked to say “Hey Siri” a few times (as well as a couple of other phrases) so that Siri can learn your voice. To help optimize this is to place your iPhone on a table but within eyesight so that you can read the screen. This supposedly helps Hey Siri to hear you better if you ever call for her when your iPhone isn’t directly in front of you.

• Then you hit the “Finish” button.

Odds are that retraining Siri will fix many of the problems you’re having, but we do have a few more tips for making Siri easier to use…

Take Advantage of Phonetic Contact Names

If you have a friend with a name that’s either difficult to pronounce or spelled in an odd way. Chances are that Siri pronounces the name wrongly every time and has a hard time understanding the name when you say it. You can train her to hear it correctly.

To start, summon Siri and say “Show me [name].” In this case, we’ll use Tom Hage as an example because Siri pronounces it as “Hay-je,” when it should be pronounced “Hay-gee.”

After Siri brings up the contact info for that person, say “You’re pronouncing it wrong.” Siri will then ask you how to pronounce the first name (Tom). Say “Tom.”

Siri then brings up a selection of different pronunciations. Since “Tom” is a pretty common name, Siri won’t have much trouble pronouncing it correctly. Choose the best pronunciation by tapping on “Select” next to the best one.

You’ll then repeat this same process, but for the last name (Hage).

Siri will then be able to identify who you’re talking about when you say that person’s name, rather than get confused by the pronunciation.

You can also teach Siri who someone is by a different name, such as referring to “Jane Smith” as your mom, instead of having to say her name.

Give Smarthome Devices Unique, but Simple Names

If you use Siri to control smarthome devices around your house, consider giving these devices simple names to make voice commands a bit easier.

You probably already did this when you first set up your smarthome gear, but if not, do so. Devices can be renamed from the device’s own app or within the Home app.

The steps for renaming devices within their own apps vary, as a result the details are not here. But in the Home app, you can long-press or 3D Touch a device and then tap the “Details” option. From there, tap on the name of the device, and then type any name you want.

For instance, if you originally named your thermostat “Ecobee3,” you’re probably better off changing it to “Thermostat” so you can just tell Siri to turn the “Thermostat” down to 68. More than likely it’s already named something simple and logical, but if not, now is your chance to do that.

Remember: You Don’t Have to Pause After Saying “Hey Siri”

If you have Hey Siri enabled for hands-free voice activation, remember that you don’t have to pause after saying the wake word.

Many users wait a second or two before shouting out their voice command to give Siri time to start listening. However, she begins to listen the instant you say “Hey Siri.”

The same also goes for other voice assistants, like Alexa and Google Assistant.

Because a smarter Siri makes your life easier.

Sure, Siri sounds a bit less like a robot in iOS 11, but Apple’s digital assistant still fails to understand me and mispronounces names. Siri is also more useful if she (my Siri has a British female voice, so I’ll refer to Siri as a “she” here) knows my daily haunts and connects with any supported apps.

Learn four easy ways to improve Siri’s smarts.

1. Train Siri to hear you better

If you have the “Hey Siri” feature enabled and Siri frequently fails to spring to life when you utter the magic words, then it’s time to start over and retrain Siri. Go to Settings > Siri & Search and toggle the switch off and back on again for Listen for “Hey Siri.” You’ll go through the setup process again of training Siri to recognize your voice.

Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

2. Connect apps like Uber and Lyft to Siri

Apple opened up Siri to third-party apps with iOS 10 but supported apps are still few and far between. And Siri is shy with such apps, waiting on you to make the introduction before they begin talking to one another. To check if an app has Siri support, go to Settings > Siri & Search and tap on an app from the list. If you see a toggle switch for Use with Siri, then the app is supported. Toggle it on and you can, for example, ask Siri to get you an Uber or a Lyft without touching either app.

Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

3. Correct Siri when she’s wrong

Siri makes her best guess at pronouncing names but, like teachers on the first day of school and John Travolta at awards shows, doesn’t always get it right. You can, however, teach Siri how to correctly pronounce names in your Contacts.

Siri, for example, goes 0 for 2 with Charlize Theron’s name, butchering both the Oscar winner’s first and last names. Tell Siri to “learn how to pronounce Charlize Theron” or if she has mispronounced it already, you can say, “That’s not how you say that.”

Siri will quickly get over any embarrassment and ask, “OK, how do you pronounce the name (Charlize)?” Say the name correctly, and Siri will listen and offer you a few pronunciation choices. You can play each option and select the one that sounds the best. After sorting out the first name, Siri will then take you through the same process for the last name.

Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

4. Tell Siri where you live and work

My favorite kind of reminders are location-based reminders. “Remind me to change over the laundry when I get home” or “Remind me to buy milk when I leave work” or “Remind me to drop off that form when I get to school.”

Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

In order for Siri to perform this location-based magic, she needs to know where you live, work and go to school. You’ll also need to enable location services for reminders.

First, open Contacts, find your listing, tap Edit and then tap add address. You there are labels for home and work but you can add a custom label that Siri will understand such as “school.”

The second step is go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services and make sure location services are turned on (toggle switch at the top) and enabled for Reminders (scroll down until you find it in your list of apps).

Published September 14, 2020

Share this post

One of the dirty little secrets of the smart home is that all those voice-controlled digital assistants like Alexa and Siri are in cahoots against you. Or, at least, it often feels that way when you struggle to find the precisely correct string of words to get Siri to turn off a smart light without its mishearing and balking—or triggering some other action and causing you to Rickroll yourself. (I humbly note that naming your smart light bulb “Vestibule Hue light two” will always end in tears.) As with many smart-home devices, there’s a terrific and free cure-all that lets you clean up all potential confusion and keep Siri in particular on track: Apple’s Shortcuts app.

Apple iPhones and iPads come with the built-in ability to control smart gear using a software platform called HomeKit. And all HomeKit-compatible equipment can be consolidated into one app, Home, which comes preinstalled on your iOS device. Using Home, you can set up and then control all your various devices, individually or as a group, put them on a schedule so that they perform various actions at set times, and have one or more of them trigger one another via Automations and Scenes (these are similar to Alexa’s Routines.) If you’re all good using the Home app (or the various other companion apps for setting up smart devices) to do that, read no further. But if you want the ability to use voice commands without being stymied by Siri’s tin ear, download the free Shortcuts app. (You can customize voice commands for Alexa in a similar way; see “How I Use Alexa to Dunk on My Kids” for details.)

Shortcuts is a clever app that speeds up actions you regularly take on your phone—say, sending a text message to a friend—by cutting out all the steps you usually have to go through to make that happen (unlock your phone, go to the home screen, tap Messages, find your friend’s name, poke the text box, type a message, hit Send). More important for smart-home users, it lets you customize the specific words necessary to get Siri to perform all those actions, which is really the special sauce: Instead of needing to say a precise, often obtuse combination of words that HomeKit or Siri normally requires, such as “Hey Siri, turn on number one Hue Light in the living room and set it to yellow and dim it at 50%,” you can simply pick a short and easy-to-recall trigger word or phrase like “Hey Siri, it’s nap time.”

Welcome to Smart Home Week

All week we’ll be putting together staff recommendations and expert advice on the very best in smart home.

Here’s something I created that involves multiple devices, which ordinarily takes several individual commands. In order to get Siri to shut off all the lights, a smart outlet that controls a window AC, and a smart switch to a ceiling fan in my living room, I created a Scene in Home that does all those things at once. Then I created a Shortcut to customize a simple phrase that triggers that Scene. It sounds complex, but the process took just a minute or so, and now all I have to do is say “Hey Siri, shut it down.” It’s easy to remember and easy to say—and more important, it doesn’t cause Siri to misunderstand me, go into a tizzy, and begin searching the web or asking me to repeat myself endlessly. It’s a perfect combo.

Here’s how to set one up.

If you want several devices to be involved, you should first create a Scene in the Home app.

1. At the main screen, tap the + in the upper right, select Add Scene, select Custom, and then give it a brief name.
2. Tap Add Accessories and then tap any of the devices you want to adjust simultaneously.
3. Hit Done and then select each accessory to adjust it to whatever final state you want it to be in—on or off at a specific setting or color for a light, locked for a door, and so on.
4. Slide the toggle to green so that this Scene is a Favorite. That way, you get a button that appears on the dashboard or home screen of Home for easy access.

Then it’s time to make it all voice friendly using Shortcuts.

1. Open the Shortcuts app and tap Create Shortcut.
2. Press Add Action and tap the Apps button to get a full listing of all the compatible options.
3. Tap the Home app icon and then select your new Scene.
4. Touch Next and then give your Shortcut a pithy, memorable name. Something with pizzazz, like “Engage!” or “Work it!” or “By the power of Grayskull!”

From now on, you can trigger it simply by saying “Hey Siri, [your pizzazzed Shortcut name here].” Tip: You can play around and have multiple Scenes trigger simultaneously but also keep adding in other elements from other apps to your Shortcut, such as music or text messages or mapping directions, and on and on. It’s super powerful and addicting. Hey Siri, let’s dance!

It’s Smart-Home Week at Wirecutter! Read more about all the ways your home can become more intelligent.

To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories.

siri, christina, bonnington, application, app, iPhone, iPhone 5, Photo: Alex Washburn / Wired Alex Washburn/WIRED

To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories.

It all started at a small academic get-together in Whistler, British Columbia.

The topic was speech recognition, and whether a new and unproven approach to machine intelligence—something called deep learning—could help computers more effectively identify the spoken word. Microsoft funded the mini-conference, held just before Christmas 2009, and two of its researchers invited the world’s preeminent deep learning expert, the University of Toronto’s Geoff Hinton, to give a speech.

Hinton’s idea was that machine learning models could work a lot like neurons in the human brain. He wanted to build “neural networks” that could gradually assemble an understanding of spoken words as more and more of them arrived. Neural networks were hot in the 1980s, but by 2009, they hadn’t lived up to their potential.

At Whistler, the gathered speech researchers were polite about the idea, “but not that interested,” says Peter Lee, the head of Microsoft’s research arm. These researchers had already settled on their own algorithms. But Microsoft’s team felt that deep learning was worth a shot, so the company had a couple of engineers work with Hinton’s researchers and run some experiments with real data. The results were “stunning,” Lee remembers—a more than 25 percent improvement in accuracy. This, in a field where a 5 percent improvement is game-changing. “We published those results, then the world changed,” he says.

Now, nearly five years later, neural network algorithms are hitting the mainstream, making computers smarter in new and exciting ways. Google has used them to beef up Android’s voice recognition. IBM uses them. And, most remarkably, Microsoft uses neural networks as part of the Star-Trek-like Skype Translate, which translates what you say into another language almost instantly. People “were very skeptical at first,” Hinton says, “but our approach has now taken over.”

One big-name company hasn’t made the jump: Apple, whose Siri software is due for an upgrade

One big-name company, however, hasn’t made the jump: Apple, whose Siri software is due for an upgrade. Though Apple is famously secretive about its internal operations–and did not provide comment for this article–it seems that the company previously licensed voice recognition technology from Nuance—perhaps the best known speech recognition vendor. But those in the tight-knit community of artificial intelligence researchers believe this is about to change. It’s clear, they say, that Apple has formed its own speech recognition team and that a neural-net-boosted Siri is on the way.

Lee would know. Apple hired one of his top managers, Alex Acero, last year. Acero, now a senior director in Apple’s Siri group had put in nearly 20 years at Microsoft, researching speech technology. There he oversaw Li Deng and Dong Yu, the two Microsoft researcher who invited Geoff Hinton to that conference in British Columbia. Apple has also poached speech researchers from Nuance, including Siri Manager Gunnar Evermann. Another speech research hire: Arnab Ghoshal, a researcher from the University of Edinburgh.

“Apple is not hiring only in the managerial level, but hiring also people on the team-leading level and the researcher level,” says Abdel-rahman Mohamed, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Toronto, who was courted by Apple. “They’re building a very strong team for speech recognition research.”

Ron Brachman, who oversees research at Yahoo and helped launch the project that originally gave rise to Siri, points out that Apple’s digital iPhone assistant depends on a lot more than just speech recognition. But Microsoft’s Peter Lee gives Apple six months to catch up to Microsoft and Google and start using neural nets, and he thinks this will significantly boost Siri’s talents. “All of the major players have switched over except for Apple Siri,” he says. “I think it’s just a matter of time.”

Cade Metz contributed reporting to this story.

With iOS 13 coming, the smart assistant will be able to personalize your experience on the HomePod

Siri, Apple smart assistant, is familiar to all who have iPhones and Apple devices, including the smart speaker HomePod. It’s a speaking, artificial intelligent (A.I.) voice that can set alerts, answer questions and update calendar requests. You can even change how it sounds when speaking to you.

While Siri can learn to know it’s user’s voice, that feature doesn’t yield much more than being able to call you by your name when speaking to the voice assistant. But with iOS 13, Siri will be able to identify up to six different users through the HomePod. This is possible with one person today, linking the HomePod to an Apple ID and enabling Personal Requests. When iOS 13 goes live, that feature will be extended to up to six people, so Siri will know to pull up one person’s calendar details or send messages from their account, instead of someone else in the home.

Setting up Siri to know your voice is simple — and retraining it is a good idea as well. Most iPhone users launched Siri when they got their smartphone, speaking to the smart assistant while holding their device close in their hands. People will likely be standing further away from the HomePod when talking to Siri — so teaching the A.I. to hear and understand you from across the room now may help with it recognizing you when iOS 13 goes live.

Here’s how to train Siri to recognize your voice.

Retraining Siri takes less than a minute, and may help when iOS 13 launches GearBrain

Training Siri

Open Settings on your iOS, then Siri & Search.

If you’ve already started using Siri, go to Listen for “Hey Siri” and toggle that switch off. Then turn it on again.

This will prompt the setup of Siri again on your device, where you’ll be asked to repeat a series of five statements for the smart assistant to learn:

• Hey Siri
• Hey Siri send a message
• Hey Siri how’s the weather today?
• Hey Siri set a timer for three minutes
• Hey Siri play some music

Consider answering some of these questions with your device several feet away from you — the distance where a HomePod may be in a room. This will help Siri recognize your voice from far away as well. During a recent test, we found that Siri was able to identify someone from across a room — even if set up had happened just inches from a device.

After that, you can test whether Siri has linked your voice to your details by asking “Hey Siri do you recognize my voice?” It should bring up your contact card, and respond to you by name.

HomePod will be able to recognize six different people through their voice when iOS 13 launches this fall Apple

HomePod’s personal experience through iOS 13

When iOS 13 debuted in June at Apple’s WWDC, the company announced a new feature for HomePod — multi-user recognition. Right now, HomePod can bring up personal details, but only for one user — the person who links the smart speaker to their own Apple ID.

HomePod will soon be able to provide personal details for up to six different users — which means Siri will be able to bring up calendar information, messages and other details just by recognizing their voice.

Apple is expected to open iOS 13 to developers starting in July (although some leaks indicate they may have the iOS 13 beta now), and then launch the new operating system in the fall.

With iOS 13 coming, the smart assistant will be able to personalize your experience on the HomePod

Siri, Apple smart assistant, is familiar to all who have iPhones and Apple devices, including the smart speaker HomePod. It’s a speaking, artificial intelligent (A.I.) voice that can set alerts, answer questions and update calendar requests. You can even change how it sounds when speaking to you.

While Siri can learn to know it’s user’s voice, that feature doesn’t yield much more than being able to call you by your name when speaking to the voice assistant. But with iOS 13, Siri will be able to identify up to six different users through the HomePod. This is possible with one person today, linking the HomePod to an Apple ID and enabling Personal Requests. When iOS 13 goes live, that feature will be extended to up to six people, so Siri will know to pull up one person’s calendar details or send messages from their account, instead of someone else in the home.

Setting up Siri to know your voice is simple — and retraining it is a good idea as well. Most iPhone users launched Siri when they got their smartphone, speaking to the smart assistant while holding their device close in their hands. People will likely be standing further away from the HomePod when talking to Siri — so teaching the A.I. to hear and understand you from across the room now may help with it recognizing you when iOS 13 goes live.

Here’s how to train Siri to recognize your voice.

Retraining Siri takes less than a minute, and may help when iOS 13 launches GearBrain

Training Siri

Open Settings on your iOS, then Siri & Search.

If you’ve already started using Siri, go to Listen for “Hey Siri” and toggle that switch off. Then turn it on again.

This will prompt the setup of Siri again on your device, where you’ll be asked to repeat a series of five statements for the smart assistant to learn:

• Hey Siri
• Hey Siri send a message
• Hey Siri how’s the weather today?
• Hey Siri set a timer for three minutes
• Hey Siri play some music

Consider answering some of these questions with your device several feet away from you — the distance where a HomePod may be in a room. This will help Siri recognize your voice from far away as well. During a recent test, we found that Siri was able to identify someone from across a room — even if set up had happened just inches from a device.

After that, you can test whether Siri has linked your voice to your details by asking “Hey Siri do you recognize my voice?” It should bring up your contact card, and respond to you by name.

HomePod will be able to recognize six different people through their voice when iOS 13 launches this fall Apple

HomePod’s personal experience through iOS 13

When iOS 13 debuted in June at Apple’s WWDC, the company announced a new feature for HomePod — multi-user recognition. Right now, HomePod can bring up personal details, but only for one user — the person who links the smart speaker to their own Apple ID.

HomePod will soon be able to provide personal details for up to six different users — which means Siri will be able to bring up calendar information, messages and other details just by recognizing their voice.

Apple is expected to open iOS 13 to developers starting in July (although some leaks indicate they may have the iOS 13 beta now), and then launch the new operating system in the fall.