How have you noticed this? In what ways have you seen this in your device in the few days since iOS 9 released?
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In what ways have you noticed Siri Proactive working for you?
- Thread starter applefanboy4
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My iPhone now shows 4 randomly picked apps on a separate empty page 
Honestly, the Tips app is a more useful feature than this.
Honestly, the Tips app is a more useful feature than this.
When creating an appointment the their day, adding attendees, my wife was prepopukated in a quick pick list which made it a lot faster.
Very little, but that's ok.
I prefer Google Now as implemented on my Nexus 6 and fresh new Moto X Pure.
It's fast, doesn't offer up any "cute comments" to entertain, just does what you ask of it.
A stellar, highly useful, no nonsense feature.
Thanks Google!
Okay, good, so I'm not the only one who has found Proactive to be not very... proactive. I hate complaining, but I was really looking forward to this feature. I have been nothing but disappointed with it.
"Siri Suggestions" lists nothing but the last 4 contacts I have talked to. Occasionally, there will be a completely random contact that I haven't talked to in days/weeks for some reason. The app suggestions are exactly the same. Last 4 apps I used, with a random one thrown in there from time to time.
I like the (concept of) "Nearby", except that it's pretty 'dumb' when it comes to finding specific places. If it's midnight and I tap nearby "Convenience Stores" or "Restaurants", I'm not interested in those that are already closed. That doesn't help me, at all. I know for a fact that there are 24 hour ones nearby, as I can find them with the Maps app manually. Even worse, the "Nightlife" one is completely useless. It appears only at night, and then ONLY suggests places that are closed. What is the point of even having this option if it's only going to pick the places that close at 9PM??
Then of course the News section is completely random and ignores the actual NEWS APP that I set up to personalize for myself. Proactive keeps suggesting political and celebrity-based news articles even though I have not favorited, subscribed to, or even read a single politics/celebrity gossip article in the News App. All I follow are tech ones and it has yet to suggest a single tech article.
/rant. I thought this was going to be the biggest part of iOS 9, but it's not. Nothing like Google Now, sorry Siri!
"Siri Suggestions" lists nothing but the last 4 contacts I have talked to. Occasionally, there will be a completely random contact that I haven't talked to in days/weeks for some reason. The app suggestions are exactly the same. Last 4 apps I used, with a random one thrown in there from time to time.
I like the (concept of) "Nearby", except that it's pretty 'dumb' when it comes to finding specific places. If it's midnight and I tap nearby "Convenience Stores" or "Restaurants", I'm not interested in those that are already closed. That doesn't help me, at all. I know for a fact that there are 24 hour ones nearby, as I can find them with the Maps app manually. Even worse, the "Nightlife" one is completely useless. It appears only at night, and then ONLY suggests places that are closed. What is the point of even having this option if it's only going to pick the places that close at 9PM??
Then of course the News section is completely random and ignores the actual NEWS APP that I set up to personalize for myself. Proactive keeps suggesting political and celebrity-based news articles even though I have not favorited, subscribed to, or even read a single politics/celebrity gossip article in the News App. All I follow are tech ones and it has yet to suggest a single tech article.
/rant. I thought this was going to be the biggest part of iOS 9, but it's not. Nothing like Google Now, sorry Siri!
I'm going to have to agree. Google does this better than Apple. Hopefully they continue to improve it.
It always recommend I use a certain app that I play music from when I'm in the car, I guess she knows I'm driving...oh Siri
The Siri news suggestion is useless. Packed with political news which I don't care to read. I set my news app for tech sites, none of them showed up at the news section. I ended up turning it off. We'all at least I can turn it off otherwise I'd be fuming.
The Siri news suggestion is useless. Packed with political news which I don't care to read. I set my news app for tech sites, none of them showed up at the news section. I ended up turning it off. We'all at least I can turn it off otherwise I'd be fuming.
I thought that this would improve or learn from the favorites users picked with initial setup of News and it would evolve...boy was I wrong.
Doesn't appear to work at all for me. Every morning I plug my headphones into my iPhone 5s yet nothing comes up on the lock screen for Spotify. As I understand it I should be expecting to see the Spotify logo in the bottom left when I plug headphones in.
The lock screen has been giving me driving times to my next appointment based on traffic. Seems pretty useful so far.
I'd have to agree with the news however, seems like garbage. And I also noticed the closed places being suggested.
I'd have to agree with the news however, seems like garbage. And I also noticed the closed places being suggested.
I've gotten the drive time ones and like those. As for contacts, they usually are my most frequent contacts, but as i approach a meeting time, the contacts change to those involved in the meeting, which can be useful for canceling or sending meeting materials. The app suggestions do seem to change a bit based on where I am.
I, too, was hoping for more. But I am also mindful of where Google Now was when it started (and I was a longtime Android user of Now and still use it a lot in the iOS Google app). Apple has further constraints due to its pledge not to mine your data. I do expect this to improve.
I, too, was hoping for more. But I am also mindful of where Google Now was when it started (and I was a longtime Android user of Now and still use it a lot in the iOS Google app). Apple has further constraints due to its pledge not to mine your data. I do expect this to improve.
I knew someone was going to imply that it hasn't been out long enough, but I did reserve judgement for a full week. And so far, I am not impressed.
I think a week is an adequate amount of time for Siri/Proactive to learn that I use the same app and talk to the same people at the same time, every day. Also, how long is it going to take Siri to learn that she is suggesting nearby places that are closed? Or that the news articles that get suggested are completely opposite from the ones that I have in their own News app?
I'll keep an open mind and continue to use it to see if it does in fact improve, but again, I have not been impressed so far!
Yeah I get news showing things I have not selected as an interest, and there is no option on the news feed to say you don't want it shown there. I assumed there would be a 'do not include this' or 'not interested in this topic' kinda option you could swipe and select or something. It will show me sports and things which I DO NOT care for. I hope they refine it and get it right, if they did then it would be a really nice feature.The Siri news suggestion is useless. Packed with political news which I don't care to read. I set my news app for tech sites, none of them showed up at the news section. I ended up turning it off. We'all at least I can turn it off otherwise I'd be fuming.
I knew someone was going to imply that it hasn't been out long enough, but I did reserve judgement for a full week. And so far, I am not impressed.
I think a week is an adequate amount of time for Siri/Proactive to learn that I use the same app and talk to the same people at the same time, every day. Also, how long is it going to take Siri to learn that she is suggesting nearby places that are closed? Or that the news articles that get suggested are completely opposite from the ones that I have in their own News app?
I'll keep an open mind and continue to use it to see if it does in fact improve, but again, I have not been impressed so far!
I was laughing more at the comment that was posted after 3 days.
But it's perfectly reasonable to post initial impressions. I don't think that comparisons to Google Now are fair at this point, since iOS9 doesn't have the history of information that Google keeps on you.
Personally, I have a longer term view of the feature. I wonder what Apple's expectations are for how long it will take to "get to know you". What time frame does it use to reach it's conclusions? Do the algorithms take into account everything since day 1 and just weight more recent information higher? Or are they only based on the last X weeks of data?
I was laughing more at the comment that was posted after 3 days.
But it's perfectly reasonable to post initial impressions. I don't think that comparisons to Google Now are fair at this point, since iOS9 doesn't have the history of information that Google keeps on you.
Personally, I have a longer term view of the feature. I wonder what Apple's expectations are for how long it will take to "get to know you". What time frame does it use to reach it's conclusions? Do the algorithms take into account everything since day 1 and just weight more recent information higher? Or are they only based on the last X weeks of data?
I see, you're right that it's not exactly fair to compare it to Google Now, as it's had much more time to mature and collect data. I still expected just a bit more than what we have now from Proactive though.
I definitely think it can, and will, become more useful in the future. I can easily think up of a dozen of useful ideas that they can use Proactive for, and I have no doubt that we will see improvements to it next iOS, and possibly even before then. You do raise an interesting point about "how" it gets to know you and what algorithms it considers.
Though I honestly don't think it should be too hard to have it gather a bunch of nearby places, and then filter out ones that are closed. Or for it to draw information from the News app and find out that "Hey, he only reads, favorites, and follows tech articles. Maybe I should suggest Tech articles instead of politics?". But I digress!
Here's hoping Apple improves Proactive and takes it to the next level!