The watchOS 5 “Raise to Siri” feature shown off by Apple’s Vice President of Technology Kevin Lynch at its Worldwide Developer Conference in June has apparently been enabled in beta three of the upcoming Apple Watch operating system.
The change was noted on Reddit by TongueBandit69, who noted, “seems it was a server side change but you can now talk to Siri on watchOS 5 without saying the Hey Siri command first. It is so awesome! Was not working previously.”
The same user also advised, “Make sure the setting is turned on on your watch under General/Siri. Also try a reboot. And obviously make sure you’re on watchOS 5,” and “before anyone asks, your Watch needs to be pretty close to your face to actually register that you’re talking to Siri.”
The new feature allows Apple Watch users to more easily invoke Siri when engaged in activities such as riding a bike, where a hands-free response is required.
To turn on the Raise to Siri feature, on your Apple Watch running watchOS 5 beta 3, go to “Settings” -> “Siri” and toggle “Raise to Speak” to the “ON” position. (The switch will turn green.)
