Get a List of Siri Commands Directly from Siri

We’ve shown you many of the great and legitimately useful things you can do with Siri, but there is much more to the intelligent voice assistant than meets the eye. Sure you can wing it to find out what Siri can do, but a better solution is to ask Siri directly… and it’ll tell you!

• Summon Siri and tap the (i) button to bring up the commands list 
• OR: Summon Siri and ask “What can you do?” 

Either option will bring up an interactive commands list broken into categories, the initial list of Siri examples include a command alongside the category/topic it pertains to:

• Call (Name) – Phone 
• Launch Photos – App Launching 
• Tell (Name) I’ll be right there – Messages 
• Set up a meeting at 9 – Calendar 
• Did the Giants win? – Sports 
• Give me directions home – Maps 
• Tweet with my location – Twitter 
• Post to Facebook – Facebook 
• Table for four in Palo Alto – Restaurants 
• What movies are playing? – Movies 
• Play Norah Jones – Music 
• Remind me to call mom – Reminders 
• Email Emily about the trip – Email 
• What’s the weather today?- Weather 
• What is Apple’s stock price? – Stocks 
• Wake me up tomorrow at 7AM – Clock 
• What is Emily’s address? – Contacts 
• Note that I spent $12 on lunch – Notes 
• Where’s Brian? – Find My Friends 
• Define mitosis – WolframAlpha (for the tough questions) 

Notice there’s an arrow alongside each of these entries, and every one of them can be tapped on to see even more specific example Siri commands related to the initial topic.



It’s important to note these are not the only commands you can give Siri, they’re just examples which give you a better idea of the guidelines and frameworks for which Siri works and responds to requests. Look through them and try them out.



Also, when interacting with many of these Siri commands, you can use virtually all of the separate Dictation commands from elsewhere in iOS and OS X to help things along, whether it’s writing out emails, formatting notes, changing punctuation, or whatever else you want done.

Huge List of Siri Commands

If you’d rather see a gigantic list, a while back TUAW took the time to type up many of the commands found in Siri’s example list. It’s pretty extensive, though t’s a bit dated since it’s from the release of iPhone 4S and therefore won’t include newer abilities that pertains to Maps and things like buying movie tickets and finding wi-fi. Nonetheless, it’s a useful list to browse through if you don’t want to navigate through Siri’s menus.


Address Book

Querying Contacts

• What’s Michael’s address? 
• What is Susan Park’s phone number? 
• When is my wife’s birthday? 
• Show Jennifer’s home email address 

Finding Contacts

• Show Jason Russell 
• Find people named Park 
• Who is Michael Manning? 

Relationships

• My mom is Susan Park 
• Michael Manning is my brother 
• Call my brother at work

Calendars

Adding Events

• Set up a meeting at 9 
• Set up a meeting with Michael at 9 
• Meet with Lisa at noon 
• Set up a meeting about hiring tomorrow at 9am 
• New appointment with Susan Park Friday at 3 
• Schedule a planning meeting at 8:30 today in the boardroom 

Changing events

• Move my 3pm meeting to 4:30 
• Reschedule my appointment with Dr. Manning to next Monday at 9am 
• Add Lisa to my meeting with Jason 
• Cancel the budget review meeting 

Asking about events

• What does the rest of my day look like? 
• What’s on my calendar for Friday? 
• When is my next appointment? 
• When am I meeting with Michael? 
• Where is my next meeting? 

Alarms

Setting Alarms

• Wake me up tomorrow at 7am 
• Set an alarm for 6:30am 
• Wake me up in 8 hours 
• Change my 6:30 alarm to 6:45 
• Turn off my 6:30 alarm 
• Delete my 7:30 alarm 

Checking the Clock

• What time is it?
• What time is it in Berlin?
• What is today’s date?
• What’s the date this Saturday?

Using a Timer

• Set the timer for ten minutes
• Show the timer
• Pause the timer
• Resume
• Reset the timer
• Stop it

Email

Sending Messages

• Email Lisa about the trip
• Email Jennifer about the change in plans
• New email to Susan Park
• Mail Dad about the rent check
• Email Dr. Manning and say I got the forms, thanks
• Mail Lisa and Jason about the party and say I had a great time

Checking Messages

• Check email
• Any new email from Michael today?
• Show new mail about the lease
• Show the email from Lisa yesterday

Responding to Messages

• Reply Dear Susan sorry about the late payment
• Call him at work

Friends

Checking Up on Friends

• Where’s Jason?
• Where is my sister?
• Is my wife at home?
• Where are all my friends?
• Who is here?
• Who is near me?

Maps

Directions

• How do I get home?
• Show 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino California
• Directions to my dad’s work

Local Businesses

• Find coffee near me
• Where is Starbucks?
• Find some burger joints in Baltimore
• Find a gas station within walking distance
• Good Mexican restaurants around here

Messages

Sending Texts

• Tell Susan I’ll be right there
• Send a message to Jason Russell
• Send a message to Lisa saying how about tomorrow
• Tell Jennifer the show was great
• Send a message to Susan on her mobile saying I’ll be late
• Send a message to 408 555 1212
• Text Jason and Lisa where are you?

Reading Texts

• Read my new messages
• Read it again

Replying to Texts

• Reply that’s great news
• Tell him I’ll be there in 10 minutes
• Call her

Music

Playback

• Play The Light of the Sun
• Play Trouble
• Play Taking Back Sunday shuffled
• Play Alicia Keys
• Play some blues
• Play my party mix
• Shuffle my roadtrip playlist
• Play
• Pause
• Skip

Notes

Creating and finding notes

• Note that I spent $12 on lunch
• Note: check out that new Alicia Keys album
• Find my restaurant note
• Create a reading list note
• Add Tom Sawyer to my reading list note

Phone

Phone calls

• Call Jason
• Call Jennifer Wright mobile
• Call Susan on her work phone
• Call 408 555 1212
• Call home
• FaceTime Lisa

Reminders

Requesting reminders

• Remind me to call mom
• Remind me to call my mom when I get home
• Remember to take an umbrella
• Remind me take my medicine at 6am tomorrow
• Remind me to pick up flowers when I leave here
• Remind me when I leave to call Jason
• Remind me to finish the report by 6

Stocks

Checking Stocks

• What’s Apple’s stock price?
• What is Apple’s PE ratio?
• What did Yahoo close at today?
• How is the Nikkei doing?
• How are the markets doing?
• What is the Dow at?

Weather

Checking the Forecast

• What’s the weather for today?
• What’s the weather for tomorrow?
• Will it rain in Cupertino this week?
• Check next week’s forecast for Burlington
• What’s the forecast for this evening?
• How’s the weather in Tampa right now?
• How hot will it be in Palm Springs this weekend?
• What’s the high for Anchorage on Thursday?
• What’s the temperature outside?
• How windy is it out there?
• When is sunrise in Paris?

Websearch

Looking up information

• Search the web for Bora Bora
• Search for vegetarian pasta recipes
• Search the web for best cable plans
• Google the war of 1812
• Search Wikipedia for Abraham Lincoln
• Search for news about the World Cup
• Bing Alicia Keys

Using Wolfram Alpha

• How many calories in a bagel?
• What is an 18% tip on $86.74 for four people?
• Who’s buried in Grant’s tomb?
• How long do dogs live?
• What is the Gossamer Condor?
• What’s the square root of 128?
• How many dollars is €45?
• What was the Best Picture of 1983?
• How many days until Christmas?
• How far away is the Sun?
• When is the next solar eclipse?
• Show me the Orion constellation
• What’s the population of Jamaica?
• How high is Mt. Everest?
• How deep is the Atlantic ocean?
• What’s the price of gasoline in Chicago?

Check out more Siri tips, and don’t forget tips for Dictation too, which isn’t interactive but translates your spoken words into text and is available in iOS and Mac OS X too.

Data source: osxdaily