Siri Voice Recognition Arrives On the iPhone 4S

siri examples
As one of the main features of the iPhone 4S, Apple today introduced Siri a personal assistant that can
answer questions and perform for tasks for users based on voice input.

Siri on iPhone 4S lets you use your voice to send messages, schedule meetings, place phone calls, and more. Ask Siri to do things just by talking the way you talk. Siri understands what you say, knows what you mean, and even talks back. Siri is so easy to use and does so much, you’ll keep finding more and more ways to use it.


Apple covers a number of examples of Siri's flexibility on the feature page and describes them in its iPhone 4S press release:

Siri understands context allowing you to speak naturally when you ask it questions, for example, if you ask “Will I need an umbrella this weekend?” it understands you are looking for a weather forecast. Siri is also smart about using the personal information you allow it to access, for example, if you tell Siri “Remind me to call Mom when I get home” it can find “Mom” in your address book, or ask Siri “What’s the traffic like around here?” and it can figure out where “here” is based on your current location. Siri helps you make calls, send text messages or email, schedule meetings and reminders, make notes, search the Internet, find local businesses, get directions and more. You can also get answers, find facts and even perform complex calculations just by asking.

Siri is launching as a beta with support for English (US, UK, and Australia), French, and German. Additional languages and features will be added in the future.

Popular Stories

M5 MacBook Pro

Apple Announces New 14-Inch MacBook Pro With M5 Chip

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:07 am PDT by
Apple today updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, which is also available in updated iPad Pro and Vision Pro models. In addition, the base 14-inch MacBook Pro can now be configured with up to 4TB of storage on Apple's online store, whereas the previous model maxed out at 2TB. However, the maximum amount of unified RAM available for this model remains 32GB. Like...
Apple iPad Pro hero M5

Apple Debuts New iPad Pro With M5 Chip, Faster Charging, and More

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:16 am PDT by
Apple today announced the next-generation iPad Pro, featuring the custom-designed M5, C1X, and N1 chips. The M5 chip has up to a 10-core CPU, with four performance cores and six efficiency cores. It features a next-generation GPU with Neural Accelerator in each core, allowing the new iPad Pro to deliver up to 3.5x the AI performance than the previous model, and a third-generation ray-tracing ...
apple oct 2024 mac tease

Apple Expected to Announce These Two to Three Products 'This Week'

Sunday October 12, 2025 7:05 am PDT by
Apple plans to announce new products "this week," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple's "Mac Your Calendars" teaser last October In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the products set to be updated this week include the iPad Pro, Vision Pro, and "likely" the base 14-inch MacBook Pro, with all three likely to receive a spec bump with Apple's next-generation M5 chip. Gurman...
maxresdefault

Here's Everything Apple Announced Today

Wednesday October 15, 2025 3:54 pm PDT by
We didn't get a second fall event this year, but Apple did unveil updated products with a series of press releases that went out today. The M5 chip made an appearance in new MacBook Pro, Vision Pro, and iPad Pro models. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. We've rounded up our coverage and highlighted the main feature changes for each device below. MacBook Pro M5...
joz macbook tease

Apple Teases Upcoming M5 MacBook Pro Launch: 'Something Powerful is Coming'

Tuesday October 14, 2025 11:59 am PDT by
Apple marketing chief Greg Joswiak today teased the launch of an upcoming product, saying "something powerful is coming" on social media. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. A short animation accompanying Joswiak's teaser reveals a brief glimpse of a MacBook Pro along with the words "coming soon." The shape of the MacBook Pro is a V, which is the Roman numeral...
airpods max 2024 colors

AirPods Max 2: Everything We Know So Far

Tuesday October 14, 2025 8:43 am PDT by
Apple's AirPods Max have now been available for almost five years, so what do we know about the second-generation version? According to Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the new AirPods Max will be lighter than the current ones, but exactly how much is as yet known. The current AirPods Max weigh 0.85 pounds (386.2 grams), excluding the charging case, making it one of the heavier...
Vision Pro M5 Announcement

Apple Updates Vision Pro With M5 Chip, Dual Knit Band, and 120Hz Support

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:14 am PDT by
Apple today updated the Vision Pro headset with its next-generation M5 chip for faster performance, and a more comfortable Dual Knit Band. The M5 chip has a 10-core CPU, a 10-core GPU with Neural Accelerators, and a 16-core Neural Engine, and we have confirmed the Vision Pro still has 16GB of RAM. With the M5 chip, the Vision Pro offers faster performance and longer battery life compared...
macbook pro blue

Apple's M5 MacBook Pro Imminent: What to Expect

Tuesday October 14, 2025 4:35 pm PDT by
Apple is going to launch a new version of the MacBook Pro as soon as tomorrow, so we thought we'd go over what to expect from Apple's upcoming Mac. M5 Chip The MacBook Pro will be one of the first new devices to use the next-generation M5 chip, which will replace the M4 chip. The M5 is built on TSMC's more advanced 3-nanometer process, and it will bring speed and efficiency improvements. ...
MacBook Pro M5 Screen

New MacBook Pro Does Not Include a Charger in the Box in Europe

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:59 am PDT by
The new 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 chip does not include a charger in the box in European countries, including the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, and others, according to Apple's online store. In the U.S. and all other countries outside of Europe, the new MacBook Pro comes with Apple's 70W USB-C Power Adapter, but European customers miss out....
HomePod mini and Apple TV

Apple's Next Rumored Products: New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and More

Thursday October 16, 2025 9:13 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year. The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...

Top Rated Comments

generationxwing Avatar
183 months ago
Agree, this was very disappointing..

How? How on Earth was any of this disappointing? The rumour mill comes up with the most impossible products every year, and every year what you dream of never happens. Every single year! My God, if you haven't learned by now there is no hope for you.
Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)
generationxwing Avatar
183 months ago
This is siriously underwhelming. They didn't even bother renaming it! What have they been doing all those months? The stock is plummeting and all I can say is: well deserved.

Well, this about sums it up correctly. If an Apple nerd hates it, it'll be a hit in the market.

People around here hated the iPod, hated the iPad and just about every other product Apple releases.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jamesr19 Avatar
183 months ago
this looks really good, shame it seems to be limited to the iPhone 4S hardware!!
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AtariMac Avatar
183 months ago
No surprises this time...
...16 months wait for an antenna that works, no redesign & a crap gimmick you can only use when it's silent around you...
Goodbye crapple...i'm pretty disgusted & feeling let down, but not surprised at all...
Fanboys are so loyal and apple just p*ss on them every time because they know they can...

Your sense of entitlement is refreshing! I know Apple owed it to you to provide you with exactly what you imagined! I cannot believe they screwed you like this!

Dude, go get some fresh air. You may find it, um, refreshing.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jmgregory1 Avatar
183 months ago
Yes, start by taking a hammer to any and all Apple hardware you now own - they purposely let everyone down by not introducing a new design iPhone with a bigger screen and super duper faster processor and 4G speed and and and.

Very odd that people have such strange expectations - if you want a bigger screen, either buy an android phone or try to get a job at Apple as a industrial designer or product manager and make the suggestion for a bigger screen.

I'm pretty sure Apple has looked at just about every aspect of every possible spec for a smart phone. They chose what they chose for reasons they don't necessarily need to explain to you or anyone for that matter.

You don't know and don't think big picture (not big screen) the way that Apple does. If all you care about is specs, please go get yourself any other manufacturers phone and enjoy you got the spec you wanted.

And for those people who say voice control is available already - it's not in the same integrated way just introduced by Apple.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
campingsk8er Avatar
183 months ago
I honestly don't know why all you crybabies are complaining. The made an excellent phone even more excellent. Or are you just upset that Steve Jobs didn't announce it, or the fact that there wasn't one more thing. I'm glad there wasn't one more thing because then you would all say, Tim is a copy cat. It seems apple can never please any of you. Well I was pleased
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)