“Siri” or “Hey Siri” – Set voice assistant triggers from iOS 17.4

While in other regions of the world an earlier iOS update made it possible to only use “Siri” instead of “Hey Siri”, in this country this option is only available from iOS 17.4. This is one of the small changes in addition to alternative app stores, Podcast transcripts, etc. However, after updating to the operating system version in question, “Siri” is set as the default. So you now have to be more careful and the voice assistant could be triggered if you talk about it without the prefix “Hey”. If you want to undo this or completely deactivate Siri's voice activation, you can find the instructions here.

iPhone Instructions: Trigger Siri with “Hey Siri,” “Siri,” or not at all

The way to the Siri option you are looking for takes you via the settings of your Apple smartphone. There you can set various options for voice assistance as well as for the general search function of iOS. Among other things, you can set there whether you want to pay attention to “Siri” and “Hey Siri” or just the latter phrase. Here are the step-by-step instructions:

1. Open the settings on your Apple iPhone
2. Scroll down and tap “Siri & Search”.
3. Select “Pay attention to” at the top
4. Select the desired point for voice activation
5. Or disable voice activation using the “Off” option

After iOS update: Siri reacts even without “Hey”

Now you know why Siri suddenly no longer waits for “Hey Siri” after the update to iOS 17.4 or newer, but instead becomes active when you simply mention the name of the voice assistant. This has to do with changing the corresponding setting. But you can easily reverse this using the instructions shown above. In addition to resetting the “Siri” option to the complete “Hey Siri”, you can also switch off the verbal activation of the voice assistant completely. If you still want to be able to use it, activate the “Press side button for Siri” switch, which you can see in the screenshot above.

Johannes Domke

After graduating from high school, Johannes completed an apprenticeship as a business assistant specializing in foreign languages. But then he decided to research and write, which resulted in his independence. For several years he has been working for Sir Apfelot, among others. His articles include product introductions, news, manuals, video games, consoles, and more. He follows Apple keynotes live via stream.