In this post, I cover using Siri with the Settings App. Did you know you can use Siri to open specific settings pages in the Settings App? How about knowing how to ask Siri to turn the flashlight on and off? Siri can even turn on Airplane mode, which also disables Siri in the process. And the best part of the Siri Settings Commands is that most are supported on more than just your iPhone, as an iPad, Apple Watch, and CarPlay are capable, too.
See the most common questions answered in the FAQ section, or view the complete list of Siri camera commands under Keeping Up With Siri in the table of contents below.
FAQs
Can Siri change settings?
Yes. Siri can read, change, and open settings pages. For instance, use the command: “Hey Siri, show me Siri settings.”
For more commands you can give Siri, check out the below lineup.
Where are Siri settings on iPhone X, or iPhone 6 or iPhone…?
Use this command to open the Siri settings in the Settings App: “Hey Siri, show me Siri settings.”
Having trouble using Siri? Check out the question “how do I enable Siri?” below.
Where are the Siri settings to change the voice?
Open Siri settings using this command: “Hey Siri, show me Siri settings.”
From there, tap on Siri Voice. You’ll find a list of voices you can use. You can also change the gender from this page.
Note that different nationalities also say things slightly differently, like with directions.
How do I enable Siri?
If you’ve turned off Siri at some point, you can turn her back on. Look for the settings page in the Settings App:
- Tap on the Settings App
- Tap on Siri & Search
- Enable one of the activation methods for Siri
- “Listen for ‘Hey Siri’”
- Press Side Button for Siri (my favorite)
Can you change Siri’s language?
Yes. Open the Settings App to the Siri settings and tap on Language. There you’ll find an impressively long list of languages Siri can be set to.
Here’s the list of 36 Siri language options as of iOS 13:
- Arabic
- Chinese (Cantonese – China mainland)
- Chinese (Cantonese – Hong Kong)
- Chinese (Mandarin – China mainland)
- Chinese (Mandarin – Taiwan)
- Danish
- Dutch (Belgium)
- Dutch (Netherlands)
- English (Australia)
- English (Canada)
- English (India)
- English (Ireland)
- English (New Zealand)
- English (Singapore)
- English (South Africa)
- English (United Kingdom)
- English (United States)
- Finnish
- French (Belgium)
- French (Canada)
- French (France)
- French (Switzerland)
- German (Austria)
- German (Germany)
- German (Switzerland)
- Hebrew
- Italian (Italy)
- Italian (Switzerland)
- Japanese
- Korean
- Malay
- Norwegian Bokmal
- Portuguese (Brazil)
- Russian
- Spanish (Chile)
- Spanish (Mexico)
- Spanish (Spain)
- Spanish (United States)
- Swedish
- Thai
- Turkish
How do I turn Siri listening off?
You can disable “Hey Siri” activation on your iPhone from the Siri settings in the Settings App. Look for the “Listen for ‘Hey Siri’” toggle. By turning it off, you can still trigger Siri by holding down the side button or screen toggle button.
Can Siri turn bluetooth on and off?
Yes. Siri can both disable and enable bluetooth. Check out the commands below for more information.
Can Siri whisper?
Not currently. Siri can’t whisper like Alexa.
Keeping Up With Siri
Beyond the above FAQs, there are many other capabilities Siri has in terms of making your life easier with using the Settings App. Before we dive into what they are, let me first introduce Keeping Up With Siri. In this series, I outline Apple’s Siri Guide of over 300 commands and provide a walk-through of each within 28 seperate posts. This post specifically focuses on using Siri to control the Settings App on your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and CarPlay.
Siri’s integration with settings is one of those features that is rarely known about, but when you discover them, you realize they’re really handy to use. Most notable is the ability to have Siri hunt for specific settings for you instead of manually looking for them yourself.
Settings Commands
“Hey Siri, turn on Airplane Mode”
Use this command to turn on Airplane mode, which turns off Wi-Fi and Cellular access for your iPhone. Before turning on Airplane mode, Siri will confirm that you want to enable it by showing you this screen:
Airplane Mode Siri UI
There’s one big catch with turning on Airplane mode. Without a connection to the Internet, you can’t use Siri. So once Airplane mode is turned on, you’ll have to disable Airplane mode yourself by using the Settings App.
Here’s how to manually disable Airplane mode:
- Tap on the Settings App
- Toggle Airplane Mode (top most menu item)
“Hey Siri, is Bluetooth on?”
Beyond changing the settings for you, Siri can also check them. For instance, when you use this command, Siri responds with a simple yes or no. What’s nice is Siri also gives you a toggle switch to turn Bluetooth on or off right from the Siri UI:
This command is great to use with CarPlay, as well.
“Hey Siri, make the screen brighter”
Here’s another common setting that Siri can adjust for you. When you say this command, Siri will make your iPhone or iPad screen slightly brighter. The inverse command also works, just say: “Hey Siri, make the screen dimmer.”
Like with the other settings commands, the Siri UI provides a slider to let you adjust the brightness manually, as well.
“Hey Siri, turn on Bluetooth”
This command is very similar to “Is Bluetooth on?” The main difference with this command is that Bluetooth will be enabled if it isn’t already. Siri gives you the same UI, too, letting you adjust the Bluetooth setting from a slider.
“Hey Siri, show me my privacy settings”
When you give Siri this command, Siri opens the Settings App to the privacy settings page. From this page you can see what information your installed apps have permission to have, such as your location.
You can find this screen manually by:
- Tap on the Settings App
- Scroll down 1 full screen or so
- Tap on Privacy
“Hey Siri, enable Wi-Fi”
Siri understands the word “enable” means the same thing as “turn on.” This goes for both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. For instance, when you give this command, Siri turns on Wi-Fi—if it’s currently disabled. And similar to what you saw with Bluetooth, you’ll also see a button that lets you turn Wi-Fi on and off in the Siri UI after giving this command.
“Hey Siri, open mail settings”
Siri has a deep understanding of the many pages within the Settings App, saving you the hassle of looking through them yourself to find a particular one.
When you use this command, Siri opens the Settings App right to the mail settings page. Note that this isn’t the setting that allows you to add and/or remove email accounts. Instead, this page features settings for the Mail App. In here, you can change things like the swipe options or your signature for new emails.
“Hey Siri, turn on Do Not Disturb”
The Do Not Disturb feature basically keeps your phone quiet for a duration you specify. It comes in handy for situations like when you’re done with your iPhone for the night and when you’re in a movie theater.
Once giving this command, Siri enables Do Not Disturb for you with your default settings. In my case, my settings are set for turning on Do Not Disturb from 10pm to 10am. So regardless of when I use this command, I won’t receive notifications until the next time 10am rolls around.
“Hey Siri, turn on the flashlight”
This is a fairly new command for Siri. With using this command, you can now turn the camera flash on your phone on and off, effectively turning it into a flashlight. Don’t use it too long, though, as it will eat up your battery.
This command is really handy when you need some light. It saves you from fumbling around in the dark.
And beyond this command itself, Siri has other useful integrations with the Camera App, letting you set up your camera quickly. Check out what else you can do in the Siri Camera Commands post.
Other Settings Commands
“Hey Siri, change the appearance to Dark Mode”
“Hey Siri, change the appearance to Light Mode”
These commands aren’t in the Apple Guide, likely because they’re fairly new with the addition of Light and Dark modes in iOS 13. While these might be added to the guide in the future, I wanted to proactively cover them here as they’re very handy to use. When you give Siri either of these commands, Siri changes the mode for you without having to go into the Settings App yourself.
What’s even nicer is that even when you use one of these commands, your “auto” settings won’t be messed up either. The mode will still switch from Light to Dark depending on the time of day.
Want to learn what else Siri can do on your iPhone and other Apple devices? Check out the 300+ commands from Apple by checking out the series Keeping Up With Siri Commands.
after upgrading to new version it has stopped working.Please help it is asking for password but it is not accepting the pass word recorded with me