How to use Siri on Apple Watch (The ultimate guide)

Written By Sajid Reviewed By Apple Watch How-to 12 Min Read

Apple Watch is an excellent health and fitness device. Alongside, it’s a great companion to your iPhone, and one of the reasons for that is Siri. Siri keeps improving with every watchOS update, giving tough competition to Google Assistant, Alexa, and Cortana.

If you’re still not using Siri on your Apple Watch, you’re missing out on a lot of possibilities on the Apple Watch. That said, here’s how you can use Siri on Apple Watch.

How to set up Siri on Apple Watch

You can invoke Siri on Apple Watch by saying the “Hey Siri” phrase. If you cannot bring it up using the “Hey Siri” phrase, head over here to know how you can set up and activate Hey Siri on Apple Watch.

How to use the Siri watch face on Apple Watch

Set up and use the Siri watch face on Apple Watch

The best way to get started with Siri on your Apple Watch is to use the Siri watch face. It fetches all the events and everything you need and displays that information when required throughout the day. You can scroll the Digital Crown to view upcoming events. 

If you don’t know how to set up the Siri watch face on your Apple Watch, check out the reference and customize the watch face to your preference.

Choose when Siri speaks on Apple Watch

Siri can speak the responses on your Apple Watch by default. However, you can change when Siri speaks out the responses. To change Siri’s voice feedback settings on Apple Watch:

  1. Press the Digital Crown and open Settings on your Apple Watch.
  2. Scroll down and select Siri from the list.
  3. Tap the Siri Responses option.
  4. You can select from the following three options:
    • Always On: Siri speaks even when the Apple Watch is in silent mode.
    • Control With Silent Mode: Siri only speaks when your Apple Watch isn’t in silent mode, and Siri stops dictating the responses when you put your Apple Watch in silent mode.
    • Headphones Only: Siri speaks only when your Apple Watch connects to Bluetooth headphones like AirPods.

      Choose when Siri speaks on Apple Watch

Select the one according to your preferences, and you’re good to go.

Let Siri announce calls and notifications

If you’re in a situation where you can’t check your Apple Watch, Siri can announce notifications and calls on supported AirPods or Beats headphones.

Siri won’t interrupt you when you’re listening to the notification content and only starts listening for the Hey Siri phrase once it finishes reading. Follow the instructions to announce calls and notifications via Siri:

  • Put on and pair your Bluetooth headphones with your Apple Watch.
    You can check this tutorial to learn how you can do it.
  • Open Settings on your Apple Watch.
  • Tap on the Siri option.
  • Scroll down and enable the Announce calls option.
  • Tap on Announce Notifications and enable the option.

    Let Siri announce calls and notifications on Apple Watch

Siri will now announce calls and notifications to the connected Bluetooth headphones. Alternatively, you can also enable it by opening Settings on your iPhone → Siri & Search, enabling Announce Calls, and then Announce Notifications.

Reply to messages with Siri

Siri on Apple Watch can be handy when you can’t reach your iPhone. If you receive a text message on your Apple Watch and want to reply, you don’t have to get to your iPhone or type the text on Apple Watch.

  1. Raise your wrist with your Apple Watch and say, “Hey Siri, reply” to wake up Siri whenever you receive a message.
  2. Speak out your message to the Apple Watch.
  3. Say OK to confirm it, or you can say or tap on Don’t Send to abort it.

For more such interesting tips and tricks on making the most of your Apple Watch, check out these 45 Helpful Apple Watch tips and tricks

Useful Siri phrases to try on your Apple Watch

Siri can execute all the basic commands that you can throw at it. Here are a few uncommon phrases to make the most of Siri on your Apple Watch. You’ll have to say “Hey Siri” to wake up Siri and then follow up with a command phrase.

  • Start a Workout: You can ask Siri to start a specific workout by saying, “start a [workout name].” For instance, you can say, “start a 20-minute outdoor run,” to start the outdoor run workout for 20 minutes.
  • Let Siri calculate for you: Whether it’s a simple calculation or conversion of one unit to another, you can ask Siri to do them for you. Just say, “what’s [your calculation question].” For instance, you can ask, “what’s 29 feet in inches,” and it’ll answer.
  • Check scores: You can ask Siri for any game’s current or past scores. Ask Siri, “what’s the [game/team name] score,” Siri will provide you the results.
  • Use Siri for translation: Ask Siri to translate sentences, say the phrase, “translate [sentence] to [language]” or “how do you say [sentence] in [language].” For instance, you can ask, “translate I don’t know Japanese to Japanese”
  • Use Siri to search Google: Ask Siri some questions, and it’ll Google it for you for the answer. For example, you can ask, “why is the sky blue,” “when was Albert Einstein born,” or “who invented the light bulb.”
  • Ask Siri what song it is: If there’s a song playing near you, and you don’t know which one it is, Siri can help you with it. Just ask, “what song is this,” Siri will recognize the song and tell you which song is playing.
  • Check emails on your wrist: Siri can help you check the latest emails on your Apple Watch. You can say, “Show me my emails,” or “Check my emails,” and it’ll get a list of the recent emails from your inbox. However, if you want to check emails from a specific person, you can say, “show me emails from [person name].”
  • Check your update: If you’re starting your day and want to check the plans you made throughout the day, Siri can do it for you. Invoke Siri and say, “What’s my update,” Siri will show you the weather, reminders, and any other travel plans you made.
  • Ask Siri what it can do: If you want to know what more Siri can do on your Apple Watch, the best way to find out is by asking Siri itself. Just say, “what kind of things can I ask you,” Siri will tell you a few things or provide you a link where you can find more Siri commands.
Useful Siri phrases to try on your Apple Watch

How to delete Siri history on Apple Watch

Now that you’re enjoying using Siri on your Apple Watch, some of you might have privacy concerns regarding data sharing. You don’t have to worry about privacy when it comes to Apple. However, you still get the option to delete Siri history on your Apple Watch; here’s how:

  1. Open Settings on your Apple Watch.
  2. Select Siri from the list.
  3. Tap on Siri History and then the Delete Siri History option.
  4. Select Delete Siri History again if you get a confirmation prompt.

    How to delete Siri history on Apple Watch

How to disable Siri on Apple Watch

If you don’t like Siri or feel it’s not helpful, you can disable Siri from your Apple Watch. Follow the instructions to learn how you can disable Siri on Apple Watch.

  1. Open Settings on your Apple Watch.
  2. Select Siri settings from the list.
  3. Toggle off the Listen for “Hey Siri,” Raise to speak, and Press Digital Crown options.
  4. Tap Turn off Siri when prompted.

    How to disable Siri on Apple Watch

Doing this will disable Siri from your Apple Watch, and you can toggle on the three options if you want to enable it in the future.

FAQs

Q. Why is Siri not responding on my Apple Watch?

If Siri isn’t responding on your Apple Watch, check whether you enabled Siri or not. If yes, but Siri is still not working, then check your iPhone settings to see if you enabled the “Hey Siri” feature or not by going to iPhone Settings → Siri & Search and toggling on the Listen for “Hey Siri” option.

Q. Can I use Siri on Apple Watch without iPhone?

Siri on your Apple Watch requires an active internet connection to function. If your Apple Watch is a GPS + Cellular model or uses a Wi-Fi connection, Siri can work without an iPhone.

Q. Is my Apple Watch always listening to my conversations?

Your Apple Watch constantly listens for the “Hey Siri” trigger phrase when you raise your wrist. But it doesn’t mean it records your conversations, so you don’t have to worry.

Q. What is the orange dot on my Apple Watch when Siri wakes up?

WatchOS 7 introduced privacy features that let you know if any app is currently using your microphone or not. When you wake up Siri, it uses the microphone to listen to your commands after the trigger phrase. So you need not worry about it.

While you might not use Siri much on your Apple Watch, it can be a great addition to your Apple Watch when you take advantage of it. It’s pretty good when compared with other voice assistants in the market.

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By Sajid Senior Writer
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Sajid Shaik is a tech enthusiast who explains complex concepts in a clear and concise way. For the past 7 years, he has been a regular contributor to tech blogs and publications, including MakeUseOf and iGeeksBlog. Sajid also has extensive knowledge of the Apple ecosystem, which he shares with his readers through his words. He has created a wide range of content, such as How-Tos, Reviews, Listicles, and much more. Aside from that, Sajid has a degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering, which gives him an advantage in better understanding technology at hardware level. Apart from writing, you can find him fiddling with Apple products or keeping up with all things Apple.
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