TECH

How To Activate Type To Siri In iOS 18.1

One of the more useful accessibility options in iOS is coming when iOS 18.1 is released later today.

For years, you've been able to enable a "Type to Siri" accessibility option in Settings (I'll tell you how to do that in a bit, even if you're not upgrading). However, as is the case with many accessibility settings, Apple realized that everyone could benefit from it being the default and will enable it for all with today’s release.

Why You Need Type to Siri...Most of us experience situational impairment caused by circumstances at some point in our daily lives, even if we don’t regularly face accessibility challenges.

Maybe you're in a quiet waiting room and you don't want to broadcast a Siri session to everyone there. Or perhaps you're getting over a cold and have lost your voice. There are a myriad of situations where being able to access Siri without having to say "Hey Siri" and then having a chat, would be useful.

There are also plenty of times when I just want to ask Siri a question without having to have a back and forth discussion…or have someone critique my choice of Siri voice (English, Voice 3, if you're wondering).

How Does It Work in iOS 18.1?...It's extremely simple to activate Type to Siri but perhaps not the most intuitive. I actually activated it by mistake the other day for the first time and wasn't sure what I'd done. I imagine most people will discover the new feature this way.

Simply tap the bar at the bottom of your iPhone screen twice. That's it! A text entry box and the keyboard pop up and you can ask Siri whatever it is you need. Tap above the highlighted Siri interaction to dismiss it. Start typing to get suggested results or enter a full query. For instance, I started asking Siri about the weather and it was ready with a response before I’d finished.

I mean, you could've let me finish, but OK. Anthony Karcz

What's cool are the little details that further differentiate that you're interacting with Siri differently than usual. Instead of the "Siri glow" appearing around the entire screen, it only appears around the text box and keyboard. It's a nice visual touch.

How Do I Turn it Off?...Type to Siri isn't going to be for everyone. It can be easy to trigger accidentally simply by picking up your phone a certain way. Luckily, it's easy to disable the feature. Go to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri. Select Talk & Type to Siri, then toggle off the Type to Siri option.

But if you want to disable double-tapping the bottom of the screen to summon Type to Siri but still want access to it, you can do that too. You just need to enable it in the Accessibility settings.

What if You Don't Have iOS 18.1?...As I mentioned at the top of the article, if you don't have iOS 18.1, you can still enable Type to Siri in iOS accessibility settings, it just works a little differently.

Open the Settings app on your device, click Accessibility > Siri, and toggle on Type to Siri. The only difference between enabling this in your settings and using the default Type to Siri in iOS 18.1 is that here, when you press and hold the button on the side of your iPhone, it enables the text box and keyboard. If you want to chat with Siri, you can still activate it with a "Hey Siri."

Even if you have iOS 18.1, you might want to enable this setting, as it's a more reliable way to activate Type to Siri. It also eliminates (or at least reduces) those times when you trigger Siri accidentally and it carries out commands based on snippets of conversation.

iOS 18.1 will be released later today, October 28, 2024.

Reporter: Anthony Karcz