canberkhNL

Q: Siri does not perform well on MacOS

I was excited to get Siri on the MacOS, however my experience so far is that it is extremely constricted in what it can do. 9 out of 10 of my commands are rejected by Siri, i.e. it cannot perform them. In the case that we can actually communicate, it turns out to be a waste of time, as seen in the example attached picture. Most of the commands are directed to a web search, when I do not even need a web search. When will we be seeing MacOS specific Siri access and ability update?Screen Shot 2016-09-25 at 16.37.47.png

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015), iOS 10

Posted on Sep 25, 2016 7:42 AM

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Q: Siri does not perform well on MacOS

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  • by Allen A,

    Allen A Allen A Sep 26, 2016 6:00 PM in response to canberkhNL
    Community Specialists
    Sep 26, 2016 6:00 PM in response to canberkhNL
    Hello canberkhNL,


    Welcome to the Apple Support Communities and thanks for your post (especially the screenshot)! It would appear that Siri on your Mac is having a hard time keeping up with the experience you've grown used to on your iPhone. In this particular circumstance (based on what little we can gather from the screenshot you've provided us) it would appear that Siri may be having a difficult time understanding you. Fortunately there are a few things we can try that may help get that line of communication straightened out.

    The first thing to check is that Siri is set up correctly, as having Siri set for the wrong dialect can make it difficult for Siri to understand what you're saying.

    Change Siri settings

    Go to System Preferences and click Siri. Or you can just ask Siri to open Siri Preferences.

    In Siri Preferences, you can:

    • Change the language or dialect that Siri expects you to use
    Use Siri on your Mac
    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206993


    Alternatively, it may be that the input volume on your MacBook Pro's microphone is too quiet. An easy method for testing this would be to connect your EarPods (or Earphones) with Remote and Mic to your Mac (How to use Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic with your Mac). If doing so clears things up, you might consider adjusting the input volume by going to System Preferences > Sound > Input (make sure that Internal Microphone is selected).

    Additionally, in order to get a good idea of what all Siri is capable of on your Mac, you can simply ask Siri "What can you do," for a list of functions that Siri supports on your Mac at this time.



    Cheers!