One of Apple Intelligence's big new features, its Siri overhaul, is still yet to arrive as of the time of writing but should hit iPhones before the end of 2024.
Thankfully, among the features available in beta right now is the ability to type to Apple's voice assistant instead, and it's infinitely better than muddling through awkward conversation with it.
Here's how to text with Siri in iOS 18, and why it's so much better than using your voice.
How to type to Siri on iOS 18
While you can trigger Siri's slick new animation by holding your iPhone's side button, that only invokes the voice commands we've been using for years (at least until the latter stages of Apple's assistant's upgrade hit iPhones).
Typing to Siri is a little less obvious, but it requires you to tap twice at the bottom of your screen - the same area where you'd drag up to go back to the home screen.
This means you can use it on any part of the iOS, letting you pull up Siri while in the middle of something. The Siri keyboard is denoted by the pinkish glow that covers it, and you can still switch to dictation with the mic button in the bottom right corner.
- On your iPhone, double tap the bottom 'bar'
- Type your request to Siri in the keyboard that appears
- Press the send button as if you were sending an iMessage
Siri's responses drop down from the top of the screen, too. While it doesn't take up the entire screen (at least on a Pro Max phone), it's pretty close. It also tends to default to a web search, and then one tap can launch you into your default browser - so you're not tied into Safari.
It's worth noting that Siri hasn't got the major upgrade that's expected with a later version of iOS 18, so it's not able to work with personal context or on-screen awareness as Apple showed off in its impressive WWDC 2024 demos. So, it's still the same Siri you've had for a while, it's just now easier to get your point across.
In the current iOS 18.1 beta I've also had Siri get "stuck" at the bottom of the screen, just showing the Siri text entry window but no keyboard. Expect that to be ironed out in the coming weeks.
Why you should try texting Siri instead
Siri's voice recognition has long been a bone of contention for Apple users, with the assistant constantly getting things wrong despite its best efforts. Worse yet, it often assumes it knows what you need and offers something completely different.
Not only does texting Siri mean it's much easier to get your request across, but it saves you from having to speak to it in public when you might really just want to keep quiet - there's nothing worse than getting into a minor argument with Siri because it's getting confused yet again.
