Siri and Text Messages: A Beginner's Guide

Siri can send and receive text messages for you, making it easy to stay connected with friends and family on the go.

To start, you need to enable Siri on your device, which can be done by going to Settings > Siri & Search.

You can ask Siri to send a text message by saying "Hey Siri, send a text to John" and then dictate your message.

Siri will then prompt you to review and send the message.

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Siri now asks which app to use to send a text message.

This new behavior can be annoying, especially while driving, as it makes voice text messages unusable.

To fix this issue, go into Settings and toggle the "Use with Ask Siri" switch on for your preferred messaging app.

Then, completely close out of the Settings app and go back to the same screen to toggle the switch off.

This should resolve the issue and allow Siri to send messages without asking which app to use.

If you're still having trouble, try asking Siri to send a message when you're not driving, and you'll see a list of alternative apps to use.

For example, you might see options like Messages, WhatsApp, and Gmail.

Respond with your preferred app, and Siri should behave as usual.

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Composing a message with Siri is incredibly fast and accurate. You can dictate your message using Siri and send it to anyone in your contacts or even a 10-digit phone number.

To start, press and hold the Home button, and wait for the short chime. Then, say the word "Text" and the name of the person you want to send a message to. Siri will open your iMessage app and put the name in the To field.

You can also say "Message" or "Tell" instead of "Text" to get started. If you're given a phone number to text, but it's not stored in your contacts, you can say the number and Siri will know what to do.

To dictate your message, simply start speaking after Siri's prompt, "What do you want your message to say?" When you're done, Siri will show you the message and ask if you want to send it. Say "Yes" or "Send" to send the message, or "No" or "Cancel" to cancel it.

If you don't want to send the message, you can say "Change it" to re-dictate it, or "Cancel" to abandon it.

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You can include basic punctuation when dictating your message. For best results, don't pause between saying the text and the punctuation symbol. You can use basic punctuation phrases, such as "comma", "point", "exclamation point", and even emoji.

You can add an emoji to a message by saying the word for the emoji, and Siri will insert it accordingly.

To include punctuation in your message, simply say the punctuation symbol, such as a comma or exclamation point, without pausing between the text and the punctuation.

For example, to add an emoji to a message, say: "I'm excited for the party 😊."

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If you want to hear a message read out again, say: "Hey Siri, read my last message" to hear your most recently received message.

Siri can also read out messages from specific contacts. To do this, you need to ask Siri to read the last message sent by a particular contact.

You can simply say the contact's name, and Siri will do the rest.

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Sending messages with Siri is a breeze, and you can do it in a few different ways. You can send a text message to a phone number that's not stored in your Contacts, which is super handy for one-time texts or contests.

All you need to do is press and hold the Home button, then tell Siri the phone number you want to text. For example, you can say "Text 212-555-1212, Enter me in the drawing, thanks." Siri will show you the number and your message, and you can confirm by saying "Yes" or "Send."

Siri won't decipher acronyms or text-speak, so if someone sends you a message with "LOL" or "TTYL", Siri won't say "laugh out loud" or "talk to you later." This means you'll need to type out full words if you want Siri to understand your message.

To send a new text message with Siri, simply press and hold the Home button, then tell Siri you want to send a message. You can also say "Hey Siri" to compatible iPhones and iPads.

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Siri will always ask you to unlock your phone before sending a message if the device is locked, which is a security precaution to prevent others from sending messages from your device without your permission.

If you want to send messages automatically, you can turn on Automatic Messaging, which skips the confirmation step. To enable Automatic Messaging, you'll need to follow the instructions in your device's settings.

Here's a quick rundown of the steps to send a message using Siri:

If you're not happy with the message, you can say "Change it" to re-dictate it, or say "Cancel" to abandon it.

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Siri will always ask you if you are sure you want to send a message. This can be a bit annoying if you're sending the same message to multiple people.

To avoid this step, you can turn on Automatic Messaging.

Siri's Automatic Messaging feature allows you to skip the confirmation step when sending messages.

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You can reply to a text message with Siri by saying "Yes" or "No" after it reads out the message, then dictating your response.

Siri will confirm the message and recipient before sending it, so make sure you've got the right person and words.

If you decide to reply at a later time, Siri will respond to the last message you received or the one you're currently looking at.

Siri will ask for a name if it can't find a contact to reply to, so be prepared to give it a name if needed.

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You can send text messages from your iPhone or Apple Watch using Siri, as long as you're connected to the internet. Siri lets you send iMessages, and if you have a cellular signal, you can also send SMS messages.

To send a new text message with Siri, press and hold the Home button to activate Siri, then tell her you want to send a message. You can also say "Hey Siri" to compatible iPhones and iPads.

If you don't want to add someone to your address book, you can use Siri to send a text to a 10-digit number. Just say the phone number you want to text, and Siri will know what to do.

Siri will prompt you to unlock your phone before sending a message if the device is locked, as a security precaution. This prevents others from being able to send messages from your device without your permission.

If you're not happy with the message, you can say "Change it" to re-dictate it, or say "Cancel" to abandon it. Siri will show you the number you want to send the text message to, as well as your message, before you confirm it.

Here's a quick rundown of the steps to send a message using Siri:

Note that Siri won't decipher acronyms or text-speak, so if someone sends you a message with "LOL" or "TTYL", Siri won't say "laugh out loud" or "talk to you later."