So I assume everyone has seen all the basic Siri commands at this point and of course the Easter Eggs thread has a lot of the comical responses. The below are a few Siri tips and tricks which I found which go beyond the base commands to leverage what Siri can do to get additional information.
Search Enhancements
These are text strings that can be used to search the web and pull back information almost as if it was native to Siri. I am sure there are others but the below i thought were the most useful.
Sports scores - Siri Command - "Yahoo [Team Name] Score" (i.e. Yahoo Broncos score OR Yahoo Miami Dolphins Score)
Not only will this show the current score if the game is currently in progress, but it will show the team record, score of the last game, and upcoming game. If Yahoo is your default engine you do not need the "Yahoo" but in my case, Google is my default, and I think Yahoo returns more nicely formatted results.I
List of Flight Times - Siri Command - "google flights from Airport to Airport" OR "city to city" (i.e. google flights from JFK to LAX OR flights from Boston to Miami)
This will bring up a list of flight times that day and the associated airline. Useful if you need to quick glance this information before booking.
Movie Times (and Ticket Purchasing) - Siri Command - "[Movie Name] showtimes [zip code - optional]" - (i.e Ides of March Showtimes OR Moneyball Showtimes 90210)
If you have set Google in Safari to use your current location, you dont even need to specify an area code. Further, there is Fandango integration so when the list of theaters and showtimes appears, if the theater is on Fandango, you can click the showtime and it directs you to ticket purchasing page for that movie and theater the mobile web version of Fandango. Further bonus is that you can set Fandango to remember your login credentials. So it becomes 3 clicks to purchase tickets (Siri search--Movie Showtimes (click)--Fanango # of ticket purchase (click)--Purchase button (click)
Opening Applications on Phone
Many people don't know this but many app developers enable their apps to be opened from other apps or the web using whats called iPhone URL schemes. For example, go into safari and type in the URL box fb:// and hit return. It opens the Facebook app on the iPhone. Or try twitter:// or IMDB:// and you will see it open those apps on your phone directly. I thought this could be potentially useful using Siri in the following way.
1) Create a Contact in your address book and call it Shortcuts.
2) Create multiple text fields with these Url schemes. Then you can tell Siri - "Show Shortcuts" and it will pull up that contact sheet and list all the URL shortcuts which can be clicked on.
Now, doing this just to open an App is probably not useful, but the iPhone URL schemes also support advanced functions in apps which I think could save time. For example, if your enter into a text field: fb://birthdays it will take you directly to the Facebook birthdays page within your Facebook app. Or try fb://albums and you go right to facebook photo albums. Unfortunately, these enhanced URL schemes are hard to find but i figured if people knew about them, the experimenting can begin.
Here is a link to a partial list of known iPhone URL Schemes: http://wiki.akosma.com/IPhone_URL_Schemes
Be curious if anyone found other cool Siri tricks.
Search Enhancements
These are text strings that can be used to search the web and pull back information almost as if it was native to Siri. I am sure there are others but the below i thought were the most useful.
Sports scores - Siri Command - "Yahoo [Team Name] Score" (i.e. Yahoo Broncos score OR Yahoo Miami Dolphins Score)
Not only will this show the current score if the game is currently in progress, but it will show the team record, score of the last game, and upcoming game. If Yahoo is your default engine you do not need the "Yahoo" but in my case, Google is my default, and I think Yahoo returns more nicely formatted results.I
List of Flight Times - Siri Command - "google flights from Airport to Airport" OR "city to city" (i.e. google flights from JFK to LAX OR flights from Boston to Miami)
This will bring up a list of flight times that day and the associated airline. Useful if you need to quick glance this information before booking.
Movie Times (and Ticket Purchasing) - Siri Command - "[Movie Name] showtimes [zip code - optional]" - (i.e Ides of March Showtimes OR Moneyball Showtimes 90210)
If you have set Google in Safari to use your current location, you dont even need to specify an area code. Further, there is Fandango integration so when the list of theaters and showtimes appears, if the theater is on Fandango, you can click the showtime and it directs you to ticket purchasing page for that movie and theater the mobile web version of Fandango. Further bonus is that you can set Fandango to remember your login credentials. So it becomes 3 clicks to purchase tickets (Siri search--Movie Showtimes (click)--Fanango # of ticket purchase (click)--Purchase button (click)
Opening Applications on Phone
Many people don't know this but many app developers enable their apps to be opened from other apps or the web using whats called iPhone URL schemes. For example, go into safari and type in the URL box fb:// and hit return. It opens the Facebook app on the iPhone. Or try twitter:// or IMDB:// and you will see it open those apps on your phone directly. I thought this could be potentially useful using Siri in the following way.
1) Create a Contact in your address book and call it Shortcuts.
2) Create multiple text fields with these Url schemes. Then you can tell Siri - "Show Shortcuts" and it will pull up that contact sheet and list all the URL shortcuts which can be clicked on.
Now, doing this just to open an App is probably not useful, but the iPhone URL schemes also support advanced functions in apps which I think could save time. For example, if your enter into a text field: fb://birthdays it will take you directly to the Facebook birthdays page within your Facebook app. Or try fb://albums and you go right to facebook photo albums. Unfortunately, these enhanced URL schemes are hard to find but i figured if people knew about them, the experimenting can begin.
Here is a link to a partial list of known iPhone URL Schemes: http://wiki.akosma.com/IPhone_URL_Schemes
Be curious if anyone found other cool Siri tricks.
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