Get More Out of Siri By Using This Phrase

Published on December 4, 2013

"Why is the sky blue?"

"When is daylight savings time?"

"How can I fix my heater?"

iPhone users have probably asked Siri - Apple's intelligent personal assistant and knowledge navigator - some questions like these at one point or another.  

Sometimes she's awesome...and sometimes she's not.  

But don't worry - she can be very VERY useful, provided you know how to phrase your questions.

How can you make the most out of your relationship with Siri? 

Proceed Your Question with "Wolfram Alpha" For More Specific Results

Siri draws her information from many sources on the internet, and it just so happens that Wolfram Alpha is one she uses.  Wolfram Alpha also happens to be one of the best, most accurate search engines of knowledge to pull from, especially when you're asking questions.

Dom Esposito from Apps Gone Free posted this video, showing how to rephrase a question to Siri using "Wolfram Alpha" to get a more specific and useful answer.

His original question to Siri:

"When will the sun set tomorrow?"

yielded a less than perfect response, giving the time the sun set that day.

When he rephrased his question to:

"Wolfram Alpha, when will the sun set tomorrow?"

Voila- Siri pulled up the exact information he was looking for - directly from the Wolfram Alpha database.

Now, this probably won't work well for EVERY question.  If you want to know when your mom's birthday is, for example, first of all, shame on you for not knowing your mom's birthday to begin with, and second of all, Siri may be able to pull up that information from your personal calendar herself.

But go ahead.  Try out "Wolfram Alpha" and let us know what you think!