Siri is very useful for performing a wide range of functions, from sending text messages to locating your phone, all by voice commands. The voice assistant has consistently grown and now supports over twenty-one languages.
While Siri is very powerful, it might not work that great for some people due to accent issues, and thus might be more of a nuisance. Some might also be concerned over privacy issues, and may just want to disable Siri. Here we cover how to disable Siri on your iOS devices and Mac.
How to Turn Off Siri on Your iOS Device
You can choose to turn off Siri partially or completely on your iOS device. If there are only certain features you don’t want, you can disable just those, such as the feature where Siri actively listens for the “Hey Siri” activation call. By doing this, Siri won’t be accidentally activated. Similarly, you can choose to turn off Siri on the Lock Screen. Both of these settings can be toggled on/off from the “Siri & Search” menu in the Settings app.
If neither of these options work for you or if you just want to turn it off altogether, you can choose to disable Siri completely. To do this, simply follow the steps below:
1. Open the Settings app on your iOS device.
2. Select “Siri & Search.”
3. Turn off the toggles for “Listen for Hey Siri” and “Press Side Button for Siri.”
4. Once you turn off the toggles, you’ll get a warning to disable Siri. Tap on “Turn Off Siri.”
Once you do this, Siri will be completely turned off on your device. If you’ve used Siri before, you should know that everything you said to it before was transmitted to Apple’s voice servers as anonymous data for testing and product improvement purposes. This data may be kept on the servers for up to two years.
After disabling Siri, you may also want to remove all voice data stored on Apple servers. According to Apple, this data can only be removed by disabling Siri and the “Dictation” feature in iOS. This means that in this case, we’ll also need to disable Dictation to make sure that all voice data is removed from the servers.
To disable the Dictation features on your device:
1. From the Settings app, navigate to “General -> Keyboard.”
2. Disable the option for “Enable Dictation.”
Voice commands will be completely turned off for your iOS device.
Also read: How to Use “Hey Siri” on Older Macs
How To Turn Off Siri on Your Mac
Disabling Siri on the Mac is pretty easy, too.
1. Open System Preferences on your Mac.
2. Click on “Siri.”
3. Simply uncheck the option to “Enable Ask Siri.”
This will completely turn Siri off on your device. To remove the voice data from Apple servers, you’ll need to turn off Dictation, too. Follow the steps below.
1. From System Preferences, click on “Keyboard.”
2. Click on “Dictation” and turn Dictation off.
Once you turn this off, your voice data will be removed from the Apple servers, and voice commands will be turned off on your Mac.
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