Siri – Tech Savvy Life

How to Turn on Captions in Siri on iPhone and iPad

The all-new compact Siri interface, available with iOS and iPadOS 14, renders just a small animated orb at the display bottom along with a compact, banner-style response that slides into view.

RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
October 13, 2021

The all-new compact Siri interface, available with iOS and iPadOS 14, renders just a small animated orb at the display bottom along with a compact, banner-style response that slides into view. Lets explore how this is done with a few simple steps.

This is for iPhone and iPad

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That’s an improvement over Siri in earlier iOS version that would take up the whole display. To keep the interface as minimal as possible, Siri in iOS and iPadOS 14 does not show Caption for spoken text nor does it display a live transcription of what you have spoken.

Thankfully, you can easily enable Siri Captions on an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Doing so will help you verify that you have heard Siri’s response correctly.

Enable Siri Captions

First, open Settings on your iPhone or iPad. Refer to below image:

Next, in Settings, tap Siri & Search. See below image:

Now, in Siri & Search, scroll down and tap Siri Responses. See following image:

Siri 3 — Selecting Siri Responses option

Next, in Siri Responses, toggle the switch beside Always Show Siri Captions into the ON position.

Note! if you have trouble seeing toggle colors, you can turn on toggle labels in Settings as well. Refer to below image:

Now, close Settings. Launch Siri and ask it a question. If your phone is not silenced, Siri will speak the response, and you will see the same response written on the screen in the form of a Caption. See below image:

Disable Siri Captions

If you ever want to disable the Captions, revisit

Settings > Siri & Search > Siri Responses

and toggle Always Show Siri Captions to OFF.

Note! you will still see Siri’s responses as Captions if your device is set to silent mode and you have Spoken Responses in Settings > Siri & Search > Siri Responses set to When Silent Mode is OFF.

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Richard Feynman

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How to Set Your Music App Using Siri on iPhone and iPad

In iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 or higher you can train Siri to learn your go-to music app. Siri will ask you which audio app you would like to use and remembers your choice.

In iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 or higher you can train Siri to learn your go-to music app. Siri will ask you which audio app you would like to use and remembers your choice.

This if for the iPhone and iPad running iOS or iPadOS 14 or higher

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First, update your iOS/iPadOS to 14 or higher. Next, launch Siri. On newer Apple devices, you can do this by saying “Hey Siri” (if you have it turned on) or long-press the Side/Top/Power button on your iPhone or iPad with Face ID. Refer to below image:

On older iPhones or iPads with a Touch ID sensor, long-press the Home button.

Now, Siri will start listening for a voice command when you see its icon appear on-screen. Ask your phone or tablet to play a song, artist, podcast, or audiobook. For example, you can say “Play Carole King,” or “Play Horse With No Name,” or “Listen to the Vergecast.” See below image:

Next, your device will ask you which music or audio app you would like to listen to the song, artist, podcast, or audiobook on. Tap the app that you would like to use. See following image:

Occasionally, Siri might ask for your permission to access an app’s data before it can control playback. Just grant the voice assistant permission by tapping the Yes button from the pop-up screen. Refer to below image:

Music 4 — Giving permission to access app

Now, Siri’s on-screen overlay will transform into an audio widget. You can control playback, volume, and more from this window. Tapping outside of the widget will make it disappear, but your music, audio, or podcast will continue playing in the background. See below image for the jazz song “Touching Peace.”

For the full playback screen from Apple Music, see following image:

Music 6 — Siri audio widget in full screen

From now on, if you ask Siri to play a song or audio program, your device will default to whichever app you selected. It will no longer automatically open the Apple Music app.

As mentioned, setting the default music app is not a setting “baked” into your device. On occasion, Siri might prompt you to reselect which audio app you would like to use to help train the Voice Assistant.

Also, you are not locked into only using the app you just chose. Instead, you can be specific in your command to Siri to open a song, artist, podcast, or audiobook in a particular app that you have installed on your device. For example, you can say, “Listen to 1984 by George Orwell in Audible.”

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Friedrich Nietzsche

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How to Stop Siri When Pressing Hold Button on iPhone

It is easy to accidentally trigger Siri on your iPhone by pressing and holding either the Side button (on newer models), or the Home button (on older ones). If you are like me, this is annoying. I find myself trying to stop Siri by pressing harder, which only changes Siri help commands. Or, I find myself turning off the iPhone by accident. Fortunately, there is an easy way to disable this feature. Siri voice commands will still be available.

It is easy to accidentally trigger Siri on your iPhone by pressing and holding either the Side button (on newer models), or the Home button (on older ones). If you are like me, this is annoying. I find myself trying to stop Siri by pressing harder, which only changes Siri help commands. Or, I find myself turning off the iPhone by accident. Fortunately, there is an easy way to disable this feature. Siri voice commands will still be available. Let’s explore how to do this.

This is for the iPhone

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Accessing Accessibility

First, launch Settings by tapping the Gear icon. Refer to below image:

Next, swipe down the list and tap Accessibility. See below image:

Stop Siri 2 — Accessing Accessibility option

The Side or Home Button

Now, swipe down until you locate the Physical and Motor section. The next step will be different depending on which model of iPhone you have.

On iPhone X or later; Tap the Side Button.
On older iPhones: Tap the Home Button,

See following image:

Stop Siri 3 — Accessing the Side Button button on iPhone XR

Next, locate the section labeled Press and Hold to Speak. Refer to below image:

Stop Siri

You will notice that the Siri option is On. Now, tap the Off option. See below image:

Now, exit all Settings screens.. The next time you press and hold your Side or Home button, Siti will not be triggered.

You will still be able to launch Siri with your voice using the “Hey Siri” feature if enabled.

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How to Use Spotify with Siri on iPhone

If you’re running iOS 13 or higher, you can directly ask Siri to play your favorite playlist, song or an artist on Spotify. iOS 13+ expands third-party support for Siri which now includes Spotify. This means you can get Apple Music style playback controls with Siri on your iPhone. Here’s how to set it up.

If you already have the Spotify app installed, and you’re logged into your account, all you have to do is start talking to Siri. Say “Play the Beatles on Spotify”.

This is for iPhone or iPad running iOS 13 or above

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Enable Spotify Access to Siri

As this is your first time using Spotify with Siri, it will ask for permission to access your Spotify data. Simpily tap the Yes button. Refer to below image:

Siri and Spotify 1 — Giving permission to access Spotify

Spotify will start playing the music you requested. You’ll see a Now Playing widget playback control on the Siri screen.

You can also control the Siri access for Spotify from your iPhone.

Open Settings
Select Spotify
Select Siri & Search. See following image:

Siri and Spotify 2 — Accessing Siri and Search

At the bottom of the screen, toggle on the Use with Ask Siri feature to enable Siri access for Spotify. Refer to below image:

Siri and Spotify 3 — Toggle on the Use with Ask Siri

Control Spotify on Using Siri

Once Spotify is connected to Siri, you can use it to play any song, album, artist or playlist. You can also get specific about albums and years of release.

Below are some Spotify commands you can use with Siri:

Play [song name] on Spotify
Play [album name] on Spotify
Play [artist name] on Spotify
Play on Spotify
Play my liked songs on Spotify
Shuffle on Spotify
Play the latest album by [artist name] on Spotify
Play [genre] music on Spotify

Other than these, you can use the standard playback controls in Siri as well. For instance, you can ask Siri to play, pause, skip, repeat, shuffle or go to the previous track. Refer to below image:

Siri and Spotify 4 — The playback control

On your iPhone, you can also open Spotify and see what is playing at the bottom of the screen. See below image:

Siri and Spotify 5 — Accessing Spotify to see what is playing

The following image is an example of using the Spotify command Play Easy Listening on Spotify:

Siri and Spotify 6 — Listening to Easy Listening on Spotify

For now, Siri only supports playback features in Spotify. You can’t use Siri to interact with the app. For instance, you can’t search for something like a song in Spotify using Siri. You also can’t use Siri to add a song to a playlist either.