Apple also updated voice assistant Siri in iOS 12. Here are the ways iOS 12 makes Siri smarter.
How iOS 12 Makes Siri Smarter
Siri is still not loved by all iOS users, but Apple is working hard to change this. With the iOS 12 update, Apple is taking a big step forward in improving and making the voice assistant smarter. How? Check the overview below.
1. Siri Shortcuts
Siri Shortcuts is Apple’s largest addition to Siri. The Siri Shortcuts App Shortcuts has been added to iOS, along with a new feature that gives the assistant access to your lock screen.
A Siri Shortcut is a series of steps that you bundle and link to a specific voice command for Siri. For example, you can make a route home in Apple Maps, a message to your partner and start a playlist by saying, “Hey Siri, I’m going home.”
Various ready-made Shortcuts can be found in the Assignments app, but from here you can also devise and set up ‘routines’ yourself. Fortunately, new Shortcut suggestions also appear regularly, so you don’t have to make them all up yourself. Very handy about Shortcuts is that not only apps from Apple itself, but also external developers can use them. There are already dozens of apps that have added Siri Shortcuts support.
2. Siri Suggestions
The smart voice assistant responds more than ever to your life, daily habits and needs. Siri Suggestions show you frequently used apps and suggestions for specific actions. The composition of the apps and suggestions changes per part of the day. Siri takes your habits, the time of day and the context into account. For example, you probably use Flitsmeister more often in the morning and Netflix earlier in the evening.
When you have a missed call, Siri suggests whether you want to call that person back. Or the assistant will ask you to open the link that you previously copied on Facebook or WhatsApp in Safari. When the assistant notices that you are moving faster, it suggests you play music or open your most used fitness app.
Suggestions such as callback can also be found on your lock screen, but the full Siri suggestions overview can be found in the search bar. When you are on one of your main screens and slide down from the center, this will appear.
3. Smart photo finder
Scrolling endlessly through your photos to find that one nice picture is a thing of the past. You can now ask the voice assistant to search and show photos based on a person, place, event, time and subject.
For example, say “Show photos in Bangkok” and Siri will show you all the photos from your collection that were taken there. It also works with commands like ‘Show photos from August 27, 2017’ or ‘Show photos of cats’. With this function you save a lot of time in which you would normally dig through photos.
4. More knowledge about sports, nutrition and celebrities
Siri has literally become a bit smarter, because the voice assistant now has more knowledge in it. Questions about sports, nutrition and celebrities in particular will now be answered better and more extensively by Siri. Think not only of the well-known sports such as football and tennis, but also motor sports, motocross or boxing.
Ask Siri how many calories are in a particular food or what its nutritional value is and Siri will find it for you. Also useful when you and your friends have a heated discussion about how old Johnny Depp is now, because the speech assistant knows how to tell you that too.
5. Greater talent for languages
The Siri translation feature was already available, but in iOS 12 it has been expanded to more than 40 languages. This makes a translation app unnecessary when traveling, you simply ask Siri what is the fastest route to the beach? in Portuguese.
6. Flashlight switch
It may sound very simple: from now on you can ask Siri to turn your flashlight on or off. Still, it can come in handy. When your hands are full and cannot just manually activate the flashlight, you shout ‘Hey Siri, turn on the flashlight’. Without having to touch your iPhone, you automatically get an illuminated flash, so that you can quickly find the keyhole in the dark, for example.
7. Remember passwords
Saving and remembering passwords has become easier, and Siri can help you with this too. When your iPhone is unlocked, you can ask for a specific password that you saved in iCloud. Siri immediately shows you the requested password, so you no longer have to scroll through an increasingly long list of accounts.
Check the iOS 12 review
Not only has Siri been addressed in iOS 12, Apple has added many more new and improved features for the iPhone and iPad. Read what’s new and our verdict in our extensive iOS 12 review.
Read all about Siri
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