To fireplace up the voice assistant in your iPhone, you possibly can say “Hey Siri” or just “Siri,” adopted by your command. This has been true for a very long time now, however Apple will lastly allow you to change this to a customized set off phrase of your selection “to launch shortcuts and full advanced duties.” This isn’t a blanket system-wide change coming with iOS 18, however it can let you arrange customized phrases for some duties in your workflow.
Which means though you will not be capable to change the “Hey Siri” command completely in iOS 18, you will have the selection to make Siri do some issues with out calling it by its title.
iOS 18’s huge push for accessibility
We have written about iOS 18’s accessibility options that Apple just lately introduced forward of WWDC 2024, and certainly one of these options known as Vocal Shortcuts. It will let you use customized phrases to set off Siri. You will additionally be capable to launch shortcuts utilizing customized phrases with iOS 18. The instance Apple shared exhibits an iPhone utilizing the phrase “Rings” to show your Exercise Rings from the Apple Watch.
That is an accessibility function designed to assist individuals who face challenges with speech. It’s a good instance of why firms ought to make investments extra in enhancing accessibility—these options make the iPhone expertise higher for everybody. Vocal Shortcuts seems like an important addition to the iPhone, however there are just a few issues that stay to be addressed.
Even the “Hey Siri” command will get triggered unintentionally or typically is not understood by the iPhone. It stays to be seen, then, how effectively Vocal Shortcuts work. There’s at all times the prospect that it finally ends up getting triggered by mistake, which may make the function much less helpful. The screenshots shared by Apple present that it really works similar to Siri’s setup course of, the place your iPhone will ask you to say the phrase just a few occasions to find out how you say it. The Vocal Shortcut might be primarily based in your speech, which ought to scale back the probabilities of firing up your shortcuts unintentionally.
