Siri, Send a Message

Client Notes

Last week, I satisfied Martha’s concerns about her documents having been migrated to her new Mac and slowed her double-click speed to balance with shaky hands. I also helped Simma address a number of peripheral issues to support her podcasting setup.

Plus, I recovered John’s extensive photo library on his 2007 white MacBook and imported it onto his iPad, a feat of ingenuity and patience. And, I received some valuable feedback from Brian, who said that as a result of working with me, he’s feeling the freedom to explore and discover apps, features, and settings, and his Mac is becoming a greater part of his identity and lifestyle.

Also, I have some sad news to share. My neighbor, John, died of a heart attack Friday. John was my anchor during my men’s work in 2019–2021, which strengthened my emotional intelligence and enabled me to find my way to Kimberley.

John and I played tennis nearly every Tuesday morning since early 2021. We only occasionally practiced serving or played for points. Mostly, we were just hitting balls back and forth, trying to sustain a volley.

I consistently found that I would start counting when we surpassed about a dozen hits, and it would start to become more difficult to focus on both hitting the ball with good aim and counting, leading me to screw up and end the volley. I’d wonder if we might have carried on longer if I never started counting.

For most of that first year, we walked together to Grove Park, a few blocks away. It was frustrating, though, to have parallel courts with no fences, meaning we had to go a greater distance to retrieve balls, sometimes invading others’ play.

Then, we switched to driving to Strawberry Creek Park, where there’s only one court yet rarely any competition at 8 am. In either case, on days when no courts were available, we’d drive up to Jewel’s Terrace Park in Albany or occasionally use the courts at Cedar Rose Park.

Until last week, my Tuesday routine was to have an early breakfast and walk next door at 7:45 am. In the last year or so, I even changed my breakfast routine so Tuesday’s would take less time to prepare and I could sleep an extra half hour.

John always had interesting stories to share, including about involvement with unions during his working life, engaging in political protest, illuminating acts at The Marsh in Berkeley, and his ongoing home improvement projects. I don’t have any photos of John, but I will cherish my memories of our time together.

Hey, Just “Siri”?

If you like using Siri in general, you might be familiar with addressing “Hey Siri.” However, since iOS 17 and other OS versions released in 2023, it’s been possible to begin simply, “Siri.”

There is a setting on each device where you use Siri as to whether it responds to “Siri” or “Hey Siri,” just “Hey Siri,” or neither (Off). If you are holding the Home Button or Side Button to activate Siri, there’s no need to address Siri by name.

Bonus: If you continue holding the activation button until the end of your request, you can issue your prompt without worrying about Siri taking action if you pause for too long.

Add to Favorites to Efficiently Send a Message

When you add a contact to Favorites, Contacts requires you to choose a channel, such as Message or Call; an app within that channel, such as Messages or WhatsApp; and a contact detail, such as a phone number or email address.

Doing so will prioritize the contact’s name if you request Siri to initiate a certain type of contact with them, such as saying “call,” “email,” or “send a message” followed by the person’s name.

For example, “Siri, send a message to Bruce” will initiate sending a message to my dad, whose name is Bruce, whose contact is in my Favorites, and who is the only favorite with that name. There are other Bruces in my contacts who are skipped over when I issue this command.

Specify Nicknames

Asking Siri to send a message to someone whose first name is unique in your contacts allows you to issue this request with their first name alone. For other contacts, if you choose not to put them in Favorites, you can specify a Nickname on their card.

If the nickname is unique, you can ask Siri to contact that name instead of using their regular name. Unfortunately, adding a nickname that isn’t unique (among all names of any kind in your contacts) won’t enable Siri to prioritize that name when issuing a request.

To add a Nickname, edit the card in Contacts. If the Nickname field is not visible: On Mac, click ➕ and then More Fields > Nickname; or choose Card > Add Field > Nickname. On iPhone or iPad, scroll down to the bottom and tap Add Field > Nickname.

If you add nicknames often, you can also add the field to the template on Mac in Contacts > Settings > Template, as I shared in Flexible Contacts and Contact Basics.

“Siri, Send a Message”

When you prompt Siri to send a message to a non-favorite contact with a non-unique name and multiple contact details that work with the specified channel, Siri will prompt you to choose one. For this reason, it’s a good idea to label contact details precisely so you can specify the one you want to use for a given communication.

Also mentioned in the above-linked articles, when editing a card, choose a label next to a contact detail and change it to any standard or custom label. Then, when commanding Siri to contact this person, include the label in the request, e.g., “Send a message to Barbara iPhone saying I’ll be home in five minutes.”

Oddly, I can’t figure out why contacts with unique names and multiple details don’t consistently prompt for selection.

Additionally, you can send a message to a contact using another messaging app besides Messages. For example, “Siri, send a message to Kimberley using WhatsApp” will initiate exactly that.

The first time you request to use a nonstandard app on iPhone or iPad, Siri will ask for permission to access that app’s data. To preempt this behavior, go to Settings > Apps > [app name] > Siri > Use with Siri Requests.

“Siri, Tell…”

When intending to dictate a message for Siri to send, you may find it easier to replace the command with, simply, “Tell.” For example, suppose I say, “Siri, tell Kimberley I’m almost done.” As Kimberley’s messaging-capable phone number is a favorite in my contacts, this will result in a message sent to Kimberley saying, “I’m almost done.”

I often use this phrasing via Apple Watch while riding my bike. In such cases, I don’t want to remove my hand from the handlebar for very long, so every word saved counts.