Well I can set timers when I am cooking. And I can ask for the temperature outside. Can't set the heating to run for 15 minutes. Can't play music from my YouTube Music account. Can't turn the Apple TV volume down.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Siri Still Struggles to Answer Very Basic Questions
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Exactly. For whatever ever I use Siri for which is mainly controlling HomeKit, dictation of messages and reading back messages while I’m driving, it works really well. This feeding frenzy started by the tech media to attack Apple is really odd.
I think the last thing they should do is spend anymore time or resources on trying to fix it. Keep working on the replacement. That said, I have low expectations for using Siri. It works for me to ask the time, turn on and off lights, fans, open or close the garage door, change temperature . I have shortcuts for HomeKit that Siri will fire. In the car Siri will text or call people for me. I gave up using it to play music.
Last night I used Siri to get directions to my next calendar event and it sent me to the wrong address. It was about two blocks from the correct address which was on the event. I walked there and was confused. But clicking the address from calendar could open maps to the correct location, so I know the data was valid.
The hardware level playing field has evened out. Every smartphone/tablet/computer looks the same and performs almost the same. Now it's all about software and AI, and Apple is losing the game. Berkshire sold the top
This is where I knew that they were bullsh itting.
This is where I knew that they were bullsh itting.
I generally have good luck with things related to Apple applications. Timers, reminders, sending messages, HomeKit commands. It's when it has to think, versus following a command, that its an issue.
If I ask, "What is the next day with rain in the forecast", Siri has no idea but looking at the weather app it's tomorrow. So instead I just say, "Open the weather app".
If I ask, "What is the next day with rain in the forecast", Siri has no idea but looking at the weather app it's tomorrow. So instead I just say, "Open the weather app".
Pretty sad that it came out 14yrs ago and is still effectively as useful as the first day it came out. Despite Apple overwhelmingly more resources to improve it.
Also a bit slimy that the original voice actress Susan Bennett has never been compensated for her work
Also a bit slimy that the original voice actress Susan Bennett has never been compensated for her work
I do not use it much, usulay for units or curency conversions or simple questions but we still should keep in mind:
It is still pretrained assistant for certain tasks people do, not weird questions like what month is? It is embarasing it can not answer it but who asks such questions?
It is build with big privacy limitations compare to other assistants
So training data are limited and things are procesed on device.
In tests I saw it was not that bad and was much faster
It can not compete with gemini
They may took bigger chunk then they can bite. Build AI assistant built on privacy base.
Of course I would like to get better responses and support for my language as it strugle with my english a lot but how many people use all those AI tools? Coders for sure. Students, researchers but they use it more on PC without spoken commands I guess.
So why such hype? Apple keeps our brains in good shape. Safe us from degradation lol
Last edited:
Siri has always worked for me for what I use it for...CarPlay, playing music...any errors I have seen are usually due to me saying a word incorrectly (like classical instead of classic for example).
I have to say, when I see some of these examples of "dumb" failures like, "what month is it?"...sure..should be easy to answer, but why is it being asked in the first place?? It's like asking Siri, "what's my name?" and being upset if it gives you the wrong or no answer. Like, stop being an idiot and ask it what it is supposed to answer or do...🤣
I have to say, when I see some of these examples of "dumb" failures like, "what month is it?"...sure..should be easy to answer, but why is it being asked in the first place?? It's like asking Siri, "what's my name?" and being upset if it gives you the wrong or no answer. Like, stop being an idiot and ask it what it is supposed to answer or do...🤣
They need to fire the whole team and start over again. They completely crapped the bed on this. They had a 13 year headstart over OpenAI and still can't even produce something that's objectively terrible even 10 years ago.
The most common request of Siri which is "Start a timer" on both Apple watch and iPhone still needs an internet connection and will sometimes fail if the connection to the server hiccups. A joke.
Have the entire Siri team just been sitting around in a back room smoking dope for 13 years?
The most common request of Siri which is "Start a timer" on both Apple watch and iPhone still needs an internet connection and will sometimes fail if the connection to the server hiccups. A joke.
Have the entire Siri team just been sitting around in a back room smoking dope for 13 years?
I just asked Siri for the State of a certain Area Code, and it provided me a very elaborated answer; too much for just a simple and objective answer that could only take a few words.
Picks the wrong person… yikes. I wonder how often people get burned by Siri sending a text to the wrong person… like “Siri accidentally sent my ’hot’ text to my neighbor;s wife, now my neighbor thinks I’m a creep.”
Any appliance that works fine only 90% of the time is broken
Located in New England, I asked Siri a very simple question: the current date.
Not so simple... for Siri.
I got the date in Nigeria.
But if I ask "Where are we located", Siri is correct.
Siri is just an embarrassment and my kids have a lot of fun with it...
If Apple does not rapidly improve Siri, they will have to terminate it. Soon, the joke will be irreversible.
Also, my son cannot use Apple Music on his HomePod with Siri. It works with AirPlay, but Siri refuses to play anything.
Not so simple... for Siri.
I got the date in Nigeria.
But if I ask "Where are we located", Siri is correct.
Siri is just an embarrassment and my kids have a lot of fun with it...
If Apple does not rapidly improve Siri, they will have to terminate it. Soon, the joke will be irreversible.
Also, my son cannot use Apple Music on his HomePod with Siri. It works with AirPlay, but Siri refuses to play anything.
I hate to call BS...but just asked as well and it says, "Thursday, March 20"....how would Nigeria even come into the conversation or be part of the answer. What did you actually ask?
Asked again using what you wrote above..."Siri, what is the current date?" Answer, "Thursday, the 20th of March"...and the written answer on the screen said, "Thursday, March 20 2025"
I can relate. I also often have trouble formulating a sensible answer to cartalk. Maybe you could try asking Siri more interesting stuff.
In the last year, google has replaced google assistant - which was pretty ok - with Gemini, which is very good and getting better each month.
In the same time - and only on the latest apple devices - Siri has a new UI but still sucks as much as it did in 2011.
At this point I feel like Apple is gaslighting us all about Siri.
Everyone knows that Siri can barely be trusted to start a timer correctly, yet Apple insists that Siri is an intelligent personal assistant that delights you with every interaction.
…Where a typical real life interaction is like the one that Larry David depicted in curb.
I’m curious as to what Apple senior execs think of Siri.
Do they seriously believe that it has powerful brand equity? (it doesn’t)
Or do they know it sucks but think they can still convince us otherwise with multi million dollar ad campaigns? (probably so).
Agree with most of this thread. Kill the siri brand name. And Siri technology. They are both beyond salvation.
Aquire or license a genai LLM chat bot now and integrate it. Seriously, this is now critical for apple to get right.
Or they will end up as relevant to modern computing as Sony. Makers of some v nice hardware, but totally inessential.
In the same time - and only on the latest apple devices - Siri has a new UI but still sucks as much as it did in 2011.
At this point I feel like Apple is gaslighting us all about Siri.
Everyone knows that Siri can barely be trusted to start a timer correctly, yet Apple insists that Siri is an intelligent personal assistant that delights you with every interaction.
…Where a typical real life interaction is like the one that Larry David depicted in curb.
I’m curious as to what Apple senior execs think of Siri.
Do they seriously believe that it has powerful brand equity? (it doesn’t)
Or do they know it sucks but think they can still convince us otherwise with multi million dollar ad campaigns? (probably so).
Agree with most of this thread. Kill the siri brand name. And Siri technology. They are both beyond salvation.
Aquire or license a genai LLM chat bot now and integrate it. Seriously, this is now critical for apple to get right.
Or they will end up as relevant to modern computing as Sony. Makers of some v nice hardware, but totally inessential.
Don’t get me wrong Siri is better than it’s even been, but it’s far behind the competition.
I hate the over reliance on chat gtp, I asked it when tax day is and that was just too much, gotta go to AI.
Just asked, "Siri, when is tax day?"
"Tax Day is on Tuesday, April 15, 2025"
so....I always ask, why does it always work for me?? Am I just lucky?
Last edited: