Siri
Apple's voice assistant built into iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, HomePod and Apple TV.
HN commenters mainly rely on it for simple tasks like timers, reminders and smart-home control,1234 and a few say the new version is useful for pulling answers from personal email and messages.567 The most common complaint is that it still fails at basic requests,891011 with many adding that the new Siri is slower and broke tasks that used to work.1213141516
Why people recommend it
Simple tasks · 3
Reliable for timers, reminders, alarms and smart-home control.
“Siri has always been pretty useful for the things I use it for: setting timers and reminders, and turning off my lights”
“I have been using siri to control my smart home and set my alarm for nearly ten years now. I haven't really had problems”
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“But it does that quite well.”
Personal data · 2
The new Siri can search emails and messages and act on local data.
“if you haven't tried the new Siri, it's been great.”
“On my Pro 16 it has its ups and downs”
Improved · 3
Some see the new version as a clear step up from the old Siri.
“It's a major improvement, but I still don't use siri much.”
“It is a step up from the old Siri as it can answer any question, yet again you have to say Hey Siri for each follow up question.”
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Visual identification · 1
One user was impressed by how well it identifies dogs through the camera.
“Pointing my camera at dogs at the dog park and seeing how well Siri identifies them. Pretty impressed so far.”
Caveats and dissent
Fails basics · 3
Often fails or misinterprets basic requests like directions, conversions and playlists.
“Siri is an inexcusable failure by a company that supposedly prides itself on user experience”
“I have yet to see a more worthless peace of garbage software than Siri.”
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“still in iOS 27 we have: - "What is three fifty degrees Fahrenheit in Celsius?" -> "53°F = 11.67°C"”
Slower · 3
The new Siri is noticeably slower to respond than the old one.
“It's really slow, no longer gets adding grocery items to the right lists, etc.”
“It is just as useless as before, just slower”
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“the new Siri is marginally worse for everything that I used to use Siri for. It's much slower to respond.”
Regressions · 3
Updates broke previously working tasks such as shortcuts, audiobook playback and offline use.
“now it starts a random book from my library, even ones I've already listened to”
“Now, Siri looks through my messages and finds a dinner reservation from OpenTable from months ago and declares that to be fact.”
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“I used to be able to use siri offline, but ios 18 seems to have broken that.”
Speech recognition · 3
Struggles with accents and non-English languages.
“Siri can't understand me probably 25% of the time.”
“Anything powered by Siri is pretty much a failed product to me right now.”
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Wrong contacts · 2
Picks the wrong person when contacts share a name.
“Siri would call her instead of my wife as they both have the same first name.”
“the new Siri is marginally worse for everything that I used to use Siri for. It's much slower to respond.”
Hands-free limits · 3
Requires unlocking the phone and repeated wake words, undermining hands-free use.
“it will say something like "…You must unlock your iPhone to do that."”
“Using Siri essentially required me to use my hands anyway, so what's the point of voice?”
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“with the new Siri i constantly have to use hey siri to keep the conversation going.”
Often compared with
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- Siri is so bad at everything 7 mentions
- Siri AI 7 mentions
- Ask HN: Do You Use Siri? 6 mentions
- iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 4 mentions
- Apple HomeView 3 mentions
- New Apple TV 4K 2 mentions
Data: siri.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 42
“Siri would call her instead of my wife as they both have the same first name.”
“New Siri is _very slightly_ better for some tasks and infinitely worse in others.”
“Now, Siri looks through my messages and finds a dinner reservation from OpenTable from months ago and declares that to be fact.”
“now it starts a random book from my library, even ones I've already listened to”
“there are three areas of their products that are substandard.”
“it is the dumbest of the bunch”
“Siri is an inexcusable failure by a company that supposedly prides itself on user experience”
“with the new Siri i constantly have to use hey siri to keep the conversation going.”
“Anything powered by Siri is pretty much a failed product to me right now.”
“Siri isn't even good enough to answer basic queries in the first place.”
“Siri, even the new gemini-under-the-hood Siri, is still maddeningly, bafflingly worthless.”
“It's really slow, no longer gets adding grocery items to the right lists, etc.”
“Buying Siri and having it be useless for anything beyond setting timers for 5 years, is kind of unforgivable.”
“very few has probably switched to Android because Siri sucks”
“That functionality is now effectively broken for me.”
“Yes, to set timers.”
“The new Siri was worse for everything I use it for before I turned it off.”
“the annoyances of the occasional helpful "Are you trying to use Siri?" pop-up motivated me to turn it off”
“Yes, for setting timers and playing music on my HomePod.”
“Absolutely never. The last thing I want is to have to speak to my devices”
“Yes. To snooze my alarm, when it's across the room. She fails maybe 20% of the time”
“It is just as useless as before, just slower”
“if you haven't tried the new Siri, it's been great.”
“But in my mind they finally delivered.”
“there's no comparison to old Siri that was just garbage”
“the new Siri is marginally worse for everything that I used to use Siri for. It's much slower to respond.”
“still in iOS 27 we have: - "What is three fifty degrees Fahrenheit in Celsius?" -> "53°F = 11.67°C"”
“But it does that quite well.”
“I've been using it for years on homepod, asking it for weather and setting timers.”
“I love Siri's suggestions for categories in my shopping list.”
“Pointing my camera at dogs at the dog park and seeing how well Siri identifies them. Pretty impressed so far.”
“It is a step up from the old Siri as it can answer any question, yet again you have to say Hey Siri for each follow up question.”
“Siri can't understand me probably 25% of the time.”
“On my Pro 16 it has its ups and downs”
“It's a major improvement, but I still don't use siri much.”
“timers are one thing i use it for”
“it will say something like "…You must unlock your iPhone to do that."”
“it gets it wrong a lot of times”
“Using Siri essentially required me to use my hands anyway, so what's the point of voice?”
“Siri has always been pretty useful for the things I use it for: setting timers and reminders, and turning off my lights”
“I have been using siri to control my smart home and set my alarm for nearly ten years now. I haven't really had problems”
“I have yet to see a more worthless peace of garbage software than Siri.”