Over the years, Siri, Apple’s voice assistant, has become an integral part of iOS (along with other Apple operating systems, as it’s also available for Mac and Apple Watch).
Siri lets you open apps, create reminders and calendar events, ask questions, and more using just your voice, without ever touching a screen or keyboard.
But can you still use Siri when you’re offline? Yes, you can, but with limits. In this article, we explore the intelligence reach of Siri when Wi-Fi or mobile data is not available.
Which iPhones let you use Siri offline?
For most of its existence, Siri has connected to Apple servers to convert your (spoken) commands into actions it can understand and perform. So when you say “Hey Siri, what’s the weather like today?” the question is quickly passed to the servers and processed, before the response is sent back to your iPhone, where Siri reads it.
But in iOS 15, which came to iPhones in late 2021, Apple moved voice recognition capabilities from its servers to your phone, making the service more secure and private while also making certain tasks possible when you’re not signed in to it. Internet.
In other words, if your iPhone is compatible with the latest version of iOS, that’s another good reason to upgrade to iOS 15. But the question is, isn’t it?
Due to voice recognition requirements, Apple has limited iPhones that can work with Siri offline in iOS 15 to those with the A12 Bionic processor or higher.
Here is the list of current iPhones that support this feature:
- iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max
- iPhone XR
- iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max
- iPhone SE (2020)
- iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max
You can also use this feature on these iPads:
- iPad mini (5ª generation or later)
- iPad Air (3rd generation or later)
- iPad (8th generation or later)
- 11″ iPad Pro (1ª generation or later)
- iPad Pro 12.9″ (3rd generation or later)
As of this writing, the ability to use Siri offline is not available on Apple Watch or macOS Monterey.
You’ll also need to make sure the “Hey Siri” feature is turned on.
What can Siri do offline?
Note that in iOS 15, only the voice recognition part of Siri is stored on your iPhone. There are still many functions for processing orders and answering questions on the server.
For this reason, if you are not connected to the Internet, Siri will not be able to offer all the features you are used to. For example, if you ask general questions like “What is the capital of Switzerland?” or “Is it going to rain today?”, you will receive an error message stating that Siri must be connected to the internet to respond.
In fact, you’ll be surprised how many tasks Siri can’t reach when you’re offline.
For example, you can launch multiple apps through Siri, such as Calendar, but you are not allowed to create new entries in that app. The same goes for Notes: you can create a new note, but you’ll need to tap the screen to bring up the keyboard, then tap the microphone button to start dictating.
So far, we’ve found that you can do the following things with Siri offline:
- open apps
- Create new alarms
- Create timers (but strangely without using the stopwatch)
- Control certain system functions (such as enabling/disabling low power mode, flashlight, adjusting screen brightness)
- Play tracks from last used music/podcast app and skip to next or previous track
- Adjust volume levels
- Make calls
- Create and send messages
What are Siri’s limitations when you’re offline?
As you can see from the list above, Siri can perform some offline tasks, but its capabilities are quite limited. While you can open apps, you can’t really do anything using voice commands alone.
Many useful applications such as reminders, calendar, maps and others cannot create new entries. Music and podcasts cannot be accessed beyond the main screen and downloaded albums/episodes cannot be selected.
Of course, any action that requires internet access will be prohibited, but that’s a given.
The addition of offline voice control is a useful feature, but Siri is always better when connected to the internet. To see what a fully functional Apple voice assistant can do, read How to Use Siri on iPhone or iPad and How to Use Siri on Mac.
