AirPods 2 and Hey Siri

I was exchanging text messages with a friend yesterday and he asked me about how I use the ‘Hey Siri’ commend with my new AirPods. Here is a list of commends I use almost every day.

  • To lock or unlock the front door. I have an August Smart Lock, and when we are going out, I almost always tell Siri to lock the door.

  • Podcast: To start, pause, or go to the next chapter (using the app Overcast).

  • To control music (start, stop, skip or play).

  • To control the volume (for both podcast and music)

  • To control other HomeKit devices, but mostly for lights

  • I don’t do this as often, but I do ask Siri to read, respond, and send messages. This really works well. I can ask her to, “Read new messages”, and she tells me how many there are, and starts reading them to me.

  • I am adding stuff all the time using shortcuts. The problem is, I forget them!

  • I am trying to drink more water. I track this using an app called, WaterMinder. I use Siri to log water with the command, ‘Siri, log 21 oz of water’.

When I am in a more public place, using Siri can get a little awkward, but I find I don’t have to talk very loud for her to respond. I have confused my wife a few times, and she will respond, “What did you say”.

I find myself using this feature more frequently over time. I am always adding new Siri Shortcuts and often add a Siri phrase to invoke it. This can become a problem because I have too many of them, and forgot the phrase or that I even created it.

I still have an old pair of AirPods that I use while recharging my newer pair. I get annoyed when I try to use ‘Hey Siri’ with that pair. I could tap my right AirPod, as I have it configured that way, and she would respond the same way, but that is such a pain. I have issues.

~ Rick


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