iPhone and iPad
On two of Apple’s most popular products, iPhone and iPad, Siri has a gigantic presence. Despite this, it’s relatively painless to turn the assistant off. To get started:
When you want to use Siri again on your iPhone or iPad:
Mac
To disable Siri on your macOS device: To restore Siri on your Mac:
Apple Watch
Here are the steps to deactivate Siri on your wearable device:
To reactivate Siri on Apple Watch:
Apple TV
Finally, here are the steps to deactivate Siri on your Apple TV: To turn Siri back on:
What You’re Missing
If you do deactivate Siri on your Apple device, you’ll be missing out on a variety of new features that arrived in 2020.
iPhone and iPad
On iPhone/iPad, the voice assistant now includes:
A compact design that allows you to see more information onscreen.The knowledge database includes more than 20 times the information than it did in 2017.Siri now includes broader web answers to some questions. At launch, this expanded coverage is only available in English (U.S., UK, Canada, India, and Australia).On iOS and CarPlay, you can now send audio messages using the voice assistant.Integration with an all-new Translation app.
Apple Watch
On Apple Watch:
Like on iOS and iPadOS, Siri’s embedded in a new language translation app. To get started, you raise your write and ask something like, “How do you say I’m hungry in Chinese?” or “What’s the word “football” in French.” Siri answers by speaking the word(s) in the languages you requested and includes an audio link to hear the translation. Yes, it’s that simple. On Apple Watch, Siri can translate into 10 languages.The Apple Watch itself processes dictation now, as opposed to a connected iPhone. By doing so, expect quicker requests and more reliability.Meanwhile, Siri Shortcuts are quicker to run on the wearable device. You can also add the shortcuts as complications on your watch face.
Mac
On Mac (on the upcoming macOS Big Sur update):
The latest update provides a broader set of questions that Siri can answer. For example, you can ask questions like, “How do hybrid cars work?” or “What causes seasons?” The web knowledge search functionality is only available in English (U.S., UK, Canada, India, and Australia).Big Sur also lets Siri identify possible reminders and make suggestions based on your Mail correspondence. Imagine being invited to an upcoming online event through email. The invitation includes the date and time and more information. Recognizing this, Siri would list this invitation in the native Reminders app as a suggestion.
Apple TV
On Apple TV:
In tvOS 14, you can now ask Siri to show any of your HomeKit-enabled cameras and trigger scenes located in the new Home view in the Control Center. Additionally, the latest operating system update brings refined search capabilities to the set-top box.
Summary
Siri is heavily integrated into Apple’s most popular products. And yet, the company makes it fairly simple to disable to feature as needed. Whether you should is a different question!
