Siri, Apple’s virtual personal assistant for iOS devices, gets more intelligent and helpful with every update of iOS. One of my favorite tricks is to use her to place a call. Especially since I now have an iPhone 6s Plus with always on “Hey Siri” voice activation.
While it’s fairly simple to ask Siri to call a contact, and then tap the speaker icon to go to speakerphone mode, it’s not always handy to do so if I’m driving a car, or have my hands otherwise occupied. Here’s a quick tip on how to make a call completely handsfree using Siri.
The usual caveats apply here, make sure your iPhone is updated to the latest version of iOS, and make sure “Hey Siri” is turned on. (Or you can hit the Home Button to summon her, but we’re really trying to go completely handsfree, I know some folks have an older iPhone, so do what you gotta do…)
Here’s the step you need to follow to have Siri place a speakerphone call for you:
- Summon Siri and say: Call (contact name) on speakerphone.” (Or you can say “speaker” instead of “speakerphone,” she’s flexible that way…)
That’s it, that’s all it takes. Go ahead, try it with someone who won’t mind you calling them, or do what I did for the screenshots and call the Kroger Pharmacy. Those bastards make me push so many buttons for a prescription refill that there’s no chance of me bothering a human employee… (And, the venting has ended.)
If by chance, Siri refuses to place the call using the speaker, try turning off your Wi-Fi connection. For some reason, she doesn’t want to place a speakerphone call when she’s on some Wi-Fi networks. Weird, I know, and let’s hope Apple fixes that.
Anyhow, once you issue the command, Siri will dial the number for you, and the speaker icon should be highlighted, and you’ll hear that incessant ringing that it takes for a pharmacy call to go through, even though you only have a few minutes before your next meeting begins, and you really need that prescription refilled, and… (No, really. I’m finished venting. I promise!)
