Hate Talking to Siri? I Do These Things Instead

I’m not a big fan of speaking out loud to technology, and that’s true no matter which voice assistant I’m trying to communicate with. As someone deeply immersed in the Apple ecosystem, Siri is my voice assistant of choice.

It’s no secret that Siri sucks, so I’ve been trying to work around this by minimizing my interactions with the assistant until the day Siri is less frustrating to use. So far, so good.

1

You can now type on Siri

One of my biggest issues with Siri isn’t the assistant’s lack of capabilities, although I readily admit that’s a problem, but rather that the assistant mishears me most of the time. I’ve talked about this in the past and detailed the frustrating way Siri adds the wrong items to my shopping lists (with unintentionally comical results).

Two years later, my experience has barely changed. Siri’s legendary redesign has been put on hold until 2026, and I have little confidence that even that will be enough for the assistant to stop mishearing “maple syrup” every time I run out. Fortunately, since the release of iOS 18 in 2024, you can use Siri as a command line by typing instead of speaking.

To enable this feature, go to Settings > Accessibility > Siri and enable “Tap to Siri”. If you don’t see the option, you probably have Apple Intelligence enabled, which enables the feature by default. To trigger Type to Siri, double-tap the very bottom of the screen. You’re aiming for the area where the horizontal bar that replaced the Home button appears when you swipe up to exit an app.

From there, you can type anything you would normally say to Siri. Best of all, you can be as small and stuffy as you want. You don’t have to ask questions; you can say “Bluetooth off” and press the send button. When you start typing, you’ll see suggestions appear above the typing box, which you can tap to trigger.

It may not be as fast as speaking out loud, but Siri has a 0% chance of mishearing you using this feature. This is especially useful for more complex tasks that you might dictate to Siri when you’re in an environment where you can’t speak. Like Siri, the interface works with ChatGPT but with the added benefit of not requiring the OpenAI app and anonymizing your queries.

2

Use another voice assistant

While Alexa and Google Assistant have built their reputations on their ability to answer general knowledge questions, imitate animal sounds, and even play trivia games, Siri has never been good at it. I’m not even sure if you are supposed being able to ask Siri about the weather or what the score of a live sports game is, such is my distrust of the assistant.

While Android users can replace the voice assistant of their choice (with a little work), that’s not the case on Apple’s operating system. You can’t change the wake word or map it to another service, and holding the “Side” button on your iPhone will always summon Siri. But there are other ways to get more complex answers that are beyond Siri’s capabilities.

Perhaps the easiest is to simply add “ask ChatGPT” to your usual spoken (or typed) requests. For this to work, you’ll need to head to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri, then tap “Configure” next to ChatGPT in the “Extensions” list (permission you can revoke at any time). Now say “Hey Siri, ask ChatGPT” and make your request.

Alternatively, there are ways to incorporate assistants like Alexa, ChatGPT Voice, Microsoft’s Copilot, and Google Gemini with a single tap. All of these have commands that can be dropped into your iPhone’s Control Center, which act as app shortcuts. For example, if you drop the ChatGPT voice mode shortcut, tapping it will open the ChatGPT app and immediately start listening to your question.

Better yet, you can assign these commands to your iPhone’s action button so you have a dedicated hardware button for your favorite assistant. You can also override the built-in lock screen shortcuts for the flashlight or Camera app (perfect for models with camera control) for equally quick responses.

3

Create the control center layout of your dreams

Since we’re talking about controls, the Control Center shouldn’t be overlooked when it comes to getting things done quickly on your iPhone. Siri can access or toggle almost any setting on your device, which is arguably one of the assistant’s best features. To find a parameter buried in a menu, it’s very practical.

But for everything else, especially the features and settings you interact with frequently, Control Center is the answer. Believe it or not, Apple didn’t introduce the ability to properly customize this vital interface until the release of iOS 18. You can now create multiple screens consisting of shortcuts and time-saving options.

Swipe down from the upper right corner of the screen, then tap the “+” plus button in the upper left corner of the screen. You’ll see the interface change slightly, with the “Add Control” option at the bottom of the screen. Existing controls will have a “-” minus button next to them, which you can use to remove them from Control Center.

Before you get rid of everything, it’s a good idea to experiment with the options available to you. If you go wild and mess things up, you can restore the default layout under Settings > Control Center. The key is to remove all the unnecessary things you never use along with the things you do use. You can create multiple options pages and group items together, but the first page is the most important since it’s the one you’ll see when you first swipe down.

One tip I have is to remove the basic connectivity cluster that groups all connection types (including things like Personal Hotspot, VPN, and Satellite) and just add the four options you’re most likely to use: Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi, Mobile Data, and Bluetooth. You can then switch them with a single click.

While many of your apps and services will have extensions that allow you to integrate them into Control Center (Express VPN and Shazam, to name two), others might require a little more ingenuity. You can create workflows in Apple Shortcuts that perform a single action to complete tasks quickly. One example is the ability to create a shortcut that fetches the current app’s Settings page. iOS 26 also added a handy “New Reminder” control that opens a pop-up window at the top of the screen.

Not all Siri requests are particularly complex. Sometimes you just want to get some information or check a reminder off your list. Widgets are perfect for this and now you can place them virtually anywhere you want. This includes a dedicated widget screen, accessible by swiping right on the home screen or any home screen of your choice.

Widgets are king for things like weather, exchange rates, news headlines, stock titles, battery percentages, and other passive information. I use widgets for all of these tasks every day, with a smart stack of weather widgets just so I can keep tabs on several different locations at once. I also have a smart battery for my cats’ AirTags and my partner’s location, so I don’t have to scroll through apps or ask Siri where they are.

Widgets are also more interactive than ever, so you can view your shopping list and check off items while you shop. You can also add a Home widget to control smart home lights, switches, media, and routines. If you use Home Assistant, this feature is even better once you install the companion iOS app.

The only thing I still do with Siri

Until recently, the always-listening “Hey, Siri” feature on my original HomePod was disabled. I swore off Siri for life after being disappointed one too many times. I used the tips above to replace Siri with widgets and custom commands. There was a time when I had Google play trivia games in my kitchen while I cooked, but even the Nest speaker hasn’t been plugged in for a while.

But after creating a Home Assistant setup that works well with Apple Home, I came back to Siri for one task: controlling my smart home. Properly setting up my smart home in the Home app helped Siri understand that a phrase like “bedroom lights” refers to the two bedside lamps. I also simplified things greatly with simple scene names.

Credit: Tim Brookes / How-To Geek

Saying “Siri, relax” in the evening when it’s time to sit down in front of the TV to turn off all but two mood lights works every time, as does saying “Siri, good night” when it’s time to turn off everything from bed. I’m actually excited to have more HomePods in the house so Siri has better coverage, and that’s not something I ever thought I’d say.

Siri is at its best when it’s an optional extra, when you have absolute confidence that the assistant won’t do something unexpectedly stupid. I hope the numerous delays for “Siri 2.0” mean Apple recognizes the importance of getting it right this time around.