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You are here: MacNN Forums > News > Mac News > Pointers: Make 'Hey Siri' work on Apple Watch

Pointers: Make 'Hey Siri' work on Apple Watch
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May 15, 2015, 07:39 AM
 
If you've got an Apple Watch, you've said 'Hey Siri' to it and it hasn't worked. It seems to fail the most whenever you try to show it off to someone but really, it fails enough that you stop using what is really a superb feature of your Watch. Just do this: lift the watch up and –– most important –– wait until the screen wakes, then begin 'Hey Siri' immediately followed by whatever you want to ask.

The trick, if you can call it that, is to wait for the screen but then not wait for a reaction. We expected Apple Watch was going to be listening out for 'Hey Siri' all the time, just as iPhone and iPad do when they're plugged into the mains or you've just done a Siri request with them. Perhaps we should've realised that it couldn't do that because it would demolish the battery having it on permanently.



It does listen all the time that the watch is active so that's why you need to wait that moment until you see the watch face appear.

We're less clear why you need to then do the opposite, to make sure you don't wait but it works. If you hesitate after 'Hey Siri', quite reasonably waiting to see that it's doing something, it stops doing anything. Whereas if you wait until the face is on then go straight into "Hey, Siri, create an event called Party for 7pm today" then it will do that.



When it works like this, Siri is superb on your Apple Watch and maybe better than it is on the iPhone. Yet we found it frustrating trying to work out why it wasn't listening to us when we'd spent all this money on the damn thing. For a time we compromised: you can also get Siri by pressing and holding in the Digital Crown.

If you do that, though, wait until you feel a tap on your wrist that says Siri is listening.

-William Gallagher (@WGallagher)
     
Inkling
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May 15, 2015, 08:11 AM
 
Talk to my watch, even using an endearing little pet name for it? Sorry, but I don't want to start down that path. It's bad enough that I talk to my sister's uncomprehending dogs that I'm keeping this week. I draw the line at watches. If I don't, it's soon be trees, flowers and maybe even door knobs. Therein lies madness.
Author of Untangling Tolkien and Chesterton on War and Peace
     
Charles Martin
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May 15, 2015, 12:06 PM
 
Just saw an ad for a doorbell that alerts your phone, so the delivery people have to talk to the disembodied voice coming out of the doorbell. This trend is only going to get worse, Inkling ...
Charles Martin
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DiabloConQueso
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May 15, 2015, 02:28 PM
 
I'm almost afraid to ask y'all's opinion on intercom systems that have been in use for half a century or longer.
     
jameshays
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May 15, 2015, 10:52 PM
 
Or, just follow the directions in settings where it clearly states, just say hey Siri after waking apple watch.
     
Amber Neely
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May 20, 2015, 07:35 PM
 
Chas, interestingly enough, my new building has that exact feature!
     
   
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