I love using Siri to quickly start a workout, set a timer or turn on my alarm without having to tap and swipe. What I don’t love, however, is talking into my iPhone, Apple Watch or AirPods while I’m on the train or sitting at my desk in the office.
And I’m not alone. In 2016, Creative Strategies found that only 3% of iPhone owners used Siri in public. PwC similarly found in 2018 that three out of four consumers were using smartphone voice assistants in the home rather than out in public, largely due to privacy concerns and because speaking to a voice assistant “looks weird.”
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Thankfully, iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max users won’t have to speak to Siri any longer if they don’t want to. With iOS 18, Siri is getting its own keyboard so that you can type a request instead of reciting it out loud. Not only can that make Siri more accessible, but leveraging the iPhone’s screen also presents new opportunities for Siri to be more proactive.
Apple made the announcement during its Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10, where it introduced its big push into generative AI called Apple Intelligence alongside other software updates for iPhones, iPads and more. Apple couldn’t pick a better time to give Siri an upgrade. Even though phone-based digital assistants have existed for more than a decade, there’s a newfound interest in the technology, thanks to the rise of ChatGPT and generative AI.
The ability to text with Siri, combined with other upgrades like more knowledge of your personal context, could finally make Siri into the iPhone virtual assistant I’ve always wanted.
In iOS 18, double-tapping the bottom of your iPhone’s screen will pull up Siri’s typing interface, which consists of a keyboard along with suggestions based on the context of what you’re doing on your phone. It sounds like the Siri Suggestions that already appear when you summon the search bar by pulling down from the home screen, but hopefully these recommendations will be even more targeted and helpful.
Typing to Siri is about more than just avoiding awkwardness in public; it could also motivate me to use Siri for more than just basic commands. Now that Siri will also be able to answer questions about how to use your device and can derive context from your phone, I’m expecting there to be a bunch of new commands at my disposal, most of which I’d rather type than speak.
If I want to check how much storage I have left on my phone without digging through the settings menu, for example, asking Siri could be a quick alternative. Even though it’s not a private query, I’d rather not ask that question out loud if I don’t have to. But this is just a hypothetical example; we’ll have to wait until iOS 18 arrives to know what types of settings requests Siri can handle.
I also find myself speaking to Siri too quickly or in a hushed voice when I’m in public to avoid any confusing stares. That’s especially true if I want to use Siri to set a reminder about something personal, such as a doctor’s appointment. But once iOS 18 arrives, I shouldn’t have to worry about that anymore.
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Something about typing into my phone just feels more natural than speaking into it (except when making phone calls, of course). I really like the idea of using Siri as a personal search engine specifically for my phone that can help me figure out how to change the amount of time it takes for the screen to time out, see if I have enough time to make it to dinner before a movie and more. Tapping, swiping and scrolling to get things done on my phone has become so instinctive that there are very few circumstances in which I’d rather dictate a command.
There’s also another way you can interact with Siri without speaking: nodding. If you’re wearing the AirPods Pro, you’ll also be able to nod or gently shake your head to respond to a Siri announcement. It may not be as rich of an experience as typing to Siri, but it’s another update that can prevent you from having to speak to Siri in a less-than-ideal situation, such as when you’re in a crowded area or during a commute.
Maybe it’s because I’m a millennial, and like others in my generation, I apparently hate talking on the phone. Regardless of the reason, I’m expecting Siri’s new text-based form to take Apple’s virtual assistant to a whole new level.
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