Want to know the time? Just ask.
Want to know the weather? Just ask.
Now you can harness the power of Apple’s digital assistant, no matter what you’re working on!
From your iPad to your iPod, from your iPhone to your iMac, and everything in between, Siri will always be there, reminding you to bake those cupcakes for auntie Mabel’s birthday, and to always mind your p’s and q’s.
While the mac version of Siri might not be able to control your HomeKit devices, here are some things it can do:
• Control the playback of music in iTunes
• Adjust the system volume
• Toggle on and off accessibility features
• Help you search for files with Spotlight
• Perform web searches in Safari
• Toggle features such as Wi-fi, Bluetooth, and do not disturb
• Give you information about the hardware of your mac, including CPU type and speed, battery level, as well as the amount of storage available
• Place calls with FaceTime
• Send messages and emails
• And so much more…
Notes for VoiceOver Users
Weather: Due to the number of cells in the table and the fact that VoiceOver does not report column headers, the “Details” table can be a bit confusing to navigate.
Notes
iTunes: If you are listening to a song in iTunes and you ask Siri what you are listening to, you will have to read the result with VoiceOver, as Siri won’t speak it, like you might expect from using iOS.
Siri will shuffle songs from artist you request, except for Ellie Goulding. I promise, this is not a joke.
Update: You must preface the request to shuffle Ellie Goulding with the word artist. Example: You might ask something like “shuffle artist Ellie Goulding.”
Mail and Messages: Siri will not read the contents of the messages you dictated as you might expect from using iOS.
Siri will not prompt you for the phone number or email address for the recipient of your message.
FaceTime: Siri will not announce “Making a FaceTime/FaceTime audio call with contact” before the call is placed, like one would expect from using iOS.
P.S. – You are not able to use the Siri voices with VoiceOver in macOS.
The higher pitched tone that is played before Siri answers your request is not allways played in macOS.
Conclusion
Although Siri is not perfect and needs some work, I still think it is a welcome addition to macOS, and I’m excited to see what Apple will do with Siri in the future.