Apple's watchOS 5 update includes a new Siri feature that eliminates the need to say "Hey ‌Siri‌" or push the Digital Crown to activate the personal assistant.

Instead, you can raise your wrist and speak right to ‌Siri‌, with the Apple Watch able to detect your movements and your desire to relay a ‌Siri‌ command. It's simple to enable, and it works well once you know a few tricks.

Enabling Raise to Speak

siriraisetospeak

  1. Open the Settings app.
  2. Choose "General."
  3. Scroll down to "‌Siri‌" and Tap it.
  4. Make sure "Raise to Speak" is toggled on.

You can leave "Hey ‌Siri‌" enabled right alongside "Raise to Speak," and use whichever ‌Siri‌ activation method is most convenient.

Using Raise to Speak

Using Raise to Speak is as simple as raising up your wrist and speaking into your Apple Watch.

Lift your wrist as you would to view the time or do any other Apple Watch activity, and then speak a command. Most people will find that they need to bring the watch a little closer to their face than they would just to view it, so if you can't get Raise to Speak to work, hold your wrist closer to your mouth.

Raise to Speak is a slightly different gesture than just raising your arm to look at the time, and the Apple Watch can tell the difference in intent.

Raise to Speak Tips

  • Raise to Speak needs to be fairly close to your face to interpret a ‌Siri‌ voice command, which prevents it from automatically activating for the most part. If it's not working, bring your wrist closer to the speaker of the Apple Watch before trying a command.
  • Raise to Speak works both at the watch face and when an app is open. It does need to be activated with the wrist raising gesture, though.
  • You need to speak at a normal speaking volume for the watch to detect a Raise to Speak command. Whispering will not work.
  • Because Raise to Speak seems to rely on proximity to the Apple Watch's speaker, ‌Siri‌ is not going to trigger when other people are speaking.

Other Siri Options

In the ‌Siri‌ section of the Settings app, accessible by following the steps above, you can also choose your Voice Feedback settings for whenever ‌Siri‌ is activated if you have an Apple Watch Series 3.

sirioptionsapplewatch
This isn't a new setting, but it's worth revisiting alongside Raise to Speak. You can choose to set Voice Feedback (aka vocal replies) to "Always On," "Control With Silent Mode," which will silence ‌Siri‌ if Silent Mode is turned on, or Headphones Only, which will cause ‌Siri‌ to provide vocal replies if you're wearing AirPods or other Bluetooth enabled headphones.

You can also set ‌Siri‌'s voice volume in the same section of the Settings app by tapping the volume icons or using the Digital Crown. This sets ‌Siri‌'s overall response volume when the personal assistant responds to queries aloud.

Raise to Speak is a useful feature on Apple Watch for everyone, but especially for HomePod owners. If you want to activate ‌Siri‌ on your watch, you can now do so without accidentally triggering a ‌HomePod‌ that might be in the room with the "Hey ‌Siri‌" command.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch 10
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Caution)

Top Rated Comments

DocMultimedia Avatar
91 months ago
Couldn't we wait until watchOS 5 is past beta for these instructional videos? It doesn't even mention the word beta in the entire article.

Not everyone lives in the beta world. Of course I do. Just not on my watch. ;)
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Craiger Avatar
91 months ago
Is this for series 3 only? I’m not seeing this on series 2.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HiVolt Avatar
91 months ago
I would hope they would get raise to wake working properly first. So many times when i want to look at my watch it doesnt wake. This was with the Series 0 and Series 3.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chrisdazzo Avatar
91 months ago
Is this for series 3 only? I’m not seeing this on series 2.
Same. Pretty sure it’s a Series 3 only feature. Good ol’ Apple.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
FelixDerKater Avatar
91 months ago
1st - Raise
2nd - Speak
...
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pcorrado Avatar
91 months ago
I turned this feature off 12 hours in. I’m a hand talker and it kept activating every few minutes. Very annoying.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Monday June 30, 2025 1:08 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are less than three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max in September this year. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an...
Apple Watch Ultra Night Mode Screen

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Magsafe

iPhone 17 Pro's New MagSafe Design Revealed in Leaked Photo

Wednesday July 2, 2025 8:37 am PDT by
The upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are rumored to have a slightly different MagSafe magnet layout compared to existing iPhone models, and a leaked photo has offered a closer look at the supposed new design. The leaker Majin Bu today shared a photo of alleged MagSafe magnet arrays for third-party iPhone 17 Pro cases. On existing iPhone models with MagSafe, the magnets form a...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Max Battery Capacity Leaked

Thursday July 3, 2025 5:40 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the biggest ever battery in an iPhone, according to the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post, the leaker listed the battery capacities of the iPhone 11 Pro Max through to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and added that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a battery capacity of 5,000mAh: iPhone 11 Pro Max: 3,969mAh iPhone 12 Pro Max: 3,687mAh...
Wi Fi WiFi General Feature

iOS 26 Adds a Useful New Wi-Fi Feature to Your iPhone

Wednesday July 2, 2025 6:36 am PDT by
iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 add a smaller yet useful Wi-Fi feature to iPhones and iPads. As spotted by Creative Strategies analyst Max Weinbach, sign-in details for captive Wi-Fi networks are now synced across iPhones and iPads running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. For example, while Weinbach was staying at a Hilton hotel, his iPhone prompted him to fill in Wi-Fi details from his iPad that was already...
iOS 18

Apple Releases Second iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Tuesday July 1, 2025 10:19 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a day after Apple provided the betas to developers. Apple has also released a second beta of macOS Sequoia 15.6. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible...
airpods pro 2

AirPods Pro 3 to Help Maintain Apple's Place in Earbud Market Amid Increasing Low-Cost Competition

Thursday July 3, 2025 7:25 am PDT by
Apple's position as the dominant force in the global true wireless stereo (TWS) earbud market is expected to continue through 2025, according to Counterpoint Research. The forecast outlines a 3% year-over-year increase in global TWS unit shipments for 2025, signaling a transition from rapid growth to a more mature phase for the category. While Apple is set to remain the leading brand by...
maxresdefault

New MacBook With A18 Pro Chip Spotted in Apple Code

Monday June 30, 2025 8:05 am PDT by
Apple is developing a MacBook with the A18 Pro chip, according to findings in backend code uncovered by MacRumors. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Earlier today, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is planning to launch a low-cost MacBook powered by an iPhone chip. The machine is expected to feature a 13-inch display, the A18 Pro chip, and color options...