Apple will simplify Siri’s wake word with iOS 17

You’ll soon be able to wake Apple’s Siri on your iPhone with a single word, while back-to-back Siri commands won’t require the wake word anymore.

The news came during Apple’s WWDC conference in Cupertino, where the company also announced a new “Standby” mode that makes a locked iPhone screen act like a smart display.

At the WWDC keynote, Apple’s Craig Federighi made the Siri announcements at the tail end of his iOS 17 presentation.

Federighi noted that Siri will soon gain the ability to respond to a simple “Siri,” rather than the usual “Hey Siri.”

It’s not clear whether the original “Hey Siri” wake word option will remain–hopefully it will. We’re also waiting on word whether you’ll be able to simply say “Siri” on a HomePod (a likely possibility).

Another Siri-related announcement for iOS 17 is that you’ll soon be able to say back-to-back commands without having to repeat Siri’s wake word.

Currently, you have to say “Hey Siri” for each Siri command, even if you’re speaking them one after the other.

The new feature allows Siri to catch up (in this regard, anyway) with Alexa and Google Assistant, which have long allowed users to speak voice commands back to back without having to repeat their respective wake words.

Apple’s move to drop “Hey” from the Siri wake word was predicted back in November, with Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman writing about the feature in his “Power On” newsletter.

German wrote that losing the “Hey” from Siri’s wake work is harder than it sounds, with the functionality requiring “a significant amount of AI training and underlying engineering work.”

iOS 17 is expected to be released this fall.