Five Settings That Make the New Siri Work Better for You

A few minutes in Settings can make the new Siri more useful and keep it away from things you want private. The biggest levers are memory, which helps Siri give more relevant answers, and a block list that keeps apps like Mail and Messages out of its reach.

What you need

Siri AI requires iOS 27 and an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max or a newer model. It can send emails, look at what is on your screen to take action, and do many things AI chatbots do. The memory features described here arrive with iOS 27.2.

Start with the basics

Open Settings, then Siri. Under Requests, choose how to wake Siri: "Siri" or "Hey Siri," just "Hey Siri," or off. You can also decide whether the side button starts Siri. Other settings in the same area:

• Voice: pick an accent and voice type.
• Responses: choose spoken or silent replies.
• Keep Conversations: set how long Siri holds on to past chats.
• Accessibility Settings: set reply pause, speaking pace and whether Siri answers when the phone is face down.

Responses also has a switch for text messages. It decides whether Siri replies automatically or asks you to confirm each one before sending. If you are not comfortable yet, leave it off. If the replies keep coming out right, consider turning it on.

Memory and privacy

On iOS 27.2, Siri can recall earlier conversations and pull context from Messages and Mail. Mention your dietary needs when you ask for a restaurant, and Siri should offer fitting options next time. You can also ask, "Where is the recipe that Alice sent me?" without saying which app it was in.

You decide what Siri can reach. Go to Settings, Siri, Excluded Apps, add the apps you want kept off limits and save. Blocking an app also means Siri can no longer work with it.

Working across apps

Most of Apple's own apps support tasks that span more than one app. You can say, "Hey Siri, please email the photo I took of the large tree to Alice." You can also name a preferred app. Tell Siri you like texts sent through WhatsApp, and it will draft them there unless told otherwise.

There is a catch. Deep support is limited to Apple's apps and a small number of third-party apps. Gmail and Facebook do not fully support it yet. Apple's App Intents framework should let other apps join in, but that is likely to take time.

Screen awareness

Siri can analyze what is on your screen. It can explain what you are looking at, pull details from a photo, help split a bill, walk you through fixing a router or give a basic nutritional read on a plate of food. Turn on Automatic Visual Look Up under Settings, Siri.

You can also ask Siri to edit an onscreen photo, such as making it brighter, changing the color or cropping it. A feature called Call Context is meant to bring relevant information to the surface during a phone conversation.