Apple Intelligence: Type with Siri
Technology is consistently entertaining new crazes. Some examples include blockchain, subscription juicers, netbooks, 3D televisions, hyperloop, and "hoverboards", just to name a handful of examples. All of these were going to be "the next big thing", but none of these have panned out as the inventors intended.
There has been a term bandied about that people think may be the end-all for computers. Said term is "Artificial Intelligence", or "AI". The term "AI" can mean a variety of different things, depending on whom you ask. However, when most use the term AI, what they are expecting is a fully conscious and sentient entity that can think, act, and rationalize as a human would. This is called "Artificial General Intelligence". Today's technology is nowhere even close to being able to come to this reality. It is not yet known whether or not Artificial Intelligence will actually live up to its ultimate expectations.
Apple is not known for being jumping on bandwagons and being the first to create new categories of technology; they typically leave that to others. However, if there is a technology that they can put their own spin on, they might do so. At their World Wide Developer Conference 24, they introduced one of these types of technologies, called "Apple Intelligence".
Apple Intelligence is not a single item; in fact, it goes against the grain of other AI assistants and only works on your data. Apple Intelligence consists of a variety of tools to help you accomplish a specific task. When introduced, Apple indicated that the initial features of Apple Intelligence would be released over the course of the iOS/iPad 18 and macOS Sequoia releases.
The items that comprise Apple Intelligence include: Writing Tools, Image Generation, and Personalized Requests. Initially, Apple wanted to have the first items available with iOS 18; however, during the beta, Apple realized that the features would not be far enough along for an initial iOS/iPadOS 18.0 and macOS Sequoia (15.0) release, so they were pushed to iOS/iPadOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1.
Not every device that can run iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, or macOS Sequoia 15.1 is able to support Apple Intelligence. To be able to run Apple Intelligence you need to have one of the following devices:
- iPhone 16/Plus (A18)
- iPhone 16 Pro/Pro Max (A18 Pro)
- iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max (A17 Pro)
- iPad mini (A17 Pro or later)
- iPad Air (M1 or later)
- iPad Pro (M1 or later)
- Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or later)
The reason that these devices are the minimum is a combination of needing 8GB of memory, as well as a neural engine.
This article is part of an on-going series that covers the features of Apple Intelligence, as they become available. This article focuses on the Apple Intelligence feature called "Typing with Siri".
Siri
Siri is Apple's personal assistant. Back in 2010 Apple acquired a voice assistant called Siri. In 2011, with the release of iOS 5 and Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, Siri became integrated into the operating system. When integrated with the operating system, Siri could perform a few more actions and over time you have been able to perform even more actions with Siri, like getting information about the weather, asking who was in a particular movie, or even getting the latest sports scores. Beyond being able to perform more actions and get more information from Siri.
Siri has expanded to more than just the iPhone and the Mac. You can use Siri on your Apple Watch, Apple TV, as well as on the HomePod. In order to use Siri with these devices you can either hold down a particular button, or you can use the phrase "Hey Siri" to activate Siri. This has been the wake word since 2011. Last year, in 2023 with the release of iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS Sonoma, Apple provided the ability to use the word "Siri" instead of "Hey Siri". This was a boon, but this may not be the only way to interact with Siri.
Type to Siri
One of the limitations of Siri is that you need to use your voice to use Siri. This may work in a variety of situations, like while at home, while driving, or even in any area where you are alone. However, you may not want to use voice interactions but still may want to use Siri. There is a new way of using Siri, by typing to it.
The way that you use "Type to Siri" differs depending on the operating system. To use Type to Siri on iPhone and iPad you simply double-tap on the home indicator. On a Mac, use the keyboard combination Globe + S. If you have a keyboard connected to your iPad, you can also use the same keyboard combination.
It is different on macOS. By default the keyboard shortcut is to hit either of hte "command" keys twice. But this is not enabled by default. Before you can type to Siri, you will need to enable it. On macOS this can be done by using the following steps:
- Open System Settings.
- Click on "Apple Intelligence & Siri" to bring up the Apple Intelligence & Siri settings.
- Enable the "Siri" toggle.
Once enabled, you can use press either of the command keys, twice in a row. However, you may want to have the same key combination as on iOS and iPadOS. This can be done by selecting the appropriate "Keyboard Shortcut" option within the Apple Intelligenice & Siri setting. The system options are:
- Globe + S
- Press Left Command Key Twice
- Press Right Command Key Twice
- Press Either Command Key Twice
- Custom
If you select "Custom", you will need to enter in the keyboard combination that you want to use. It is best to avoid any existing system key combinations, otherwise you might become confused. Now, let us look at actually using Type to Siri.
Using Type to Siri
Once you bring up Type to Siri you will have a text box where you can enter in your request. After tapping the "send" button or hitting the enter key your request will be sent to Siri. Instead of your result being spoken out loud, your result will be shown on the screen. As you type, Siri will provide suggestions for items that you may want to do.
Suggested Actions
As an example, if you start typing "Create", you may get something like "Create a new note". Another example, if you type "Play", you may get suggestions for playing certain music playlists. For me, it was "Play New Music - 2024/09", "Play Heavy Rotation playlist", and "Play Guilty as Sin? by Taylor Swift". Each of these have been playlists, or songs, that I have been playing a lot lately.
The suggestions I got are from my iPhone. When I tried the same thing on my MacBook Pro I got "Open Playgrounds", "Play the news", and "Play some music". Similarly, on my iPad Pro I got "Play my voicemail", "Play my Audiobook", and "Open Playgrounds".
The different responses make complete sense because it is being processed locally and it is contextual to what you do on that device. Becaue I do not play music on my iPad Pro, Siri did not suggest that as an option. To be honest, I am a bit confused as to why it would suggest to "Play voicemails", when there is no phone app on the iPad.
Results
Just as when you use your voice with Siri you can perform more thn just the suggested actions. You can type the same requests that you would normally say. My go to example is asking the tongue twister "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?". Siri, naturally responded with:
About as much ground as a groundhog could hog if a groundhog could hog ground.
How about another tongue twister?
These are just a couple of examples of what you can do when you type to Siri. This may not seem like a big deal, but being able to use your keyboard with Siri is a huge shift in how and when you might use Siri. You are no longer required to use your voice, which means that this can be used in almost ANY situation, which is something that many have wanted since Siri was introduced.
Closing Thoughts on Siri
Now, you do not need to be self-conscious about using Siri in public, because you do not need to say anything, you can simply type your request and have Siri show you the results. When you make a request, suggestions will be shown and you can simply type in your request and Siri will provide you the answer.
Siri will be getting even more features later, but this is the current new feature for Siri, at least as of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1.
This post is just one in a series about Apple Intelligence, There will be more articles in this series, so be sure to check out those articles.