When speaking to Siri doesn’t yield the results you expected, these tips might help.
While we can’t influence what Siri does because it is Apple’s AI, we do have a few suggestions for you if Things and Siri aren’t working together as expected.
In this article:
Enable Siri
Have you made sure that Siri is enabled? Here’s how to check:
iPhone & iPad
- On your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings → Siri & Search.
- Ensure that the Siri features are enabled.
- In the same list, scroll down until you find Things.
- Ensure that the Siri features are enabled.
Watch
When you enable Siri on your iPhone it will also be enabled on your Apple Watch.
Vision
In Things for Vision, please follow the same steps as described in the iPad & iPhone tab above.
Mac
Siri does exist on the Mac, but for now the functionality is limited to Apple’s own apps. This means Things can’t integrate deeply with it yet.
Known Limitations
iPhone & iPad
- You can’t cancel or edit to-dos within the Siri screen.
- While we show the checkbox for every to-do, it’s currently not possible to tap this checkbox to complete the to-do within the Siri screen.
Watch
At this time, you can only view you to-dos from your Today list on Apple Watch – it does not have access to any other lists. For that reason, you can’t ask Siri to read or show to-dos from other lists. You can, however, create to-dos on Apple Watch and send them to any other list.
Mac
Siri does exist on the Mac, but for now the functionality is limited to Apple’s own apps. This means Things can’t integrate deeply with it yet. Here’s what you can do:
- Use Siri to create to-dos in the Reminders app on your Mac, and then import them into Things later.
- Trigger a Shortcut by speaking to Siri.
CarPlay
- After trying to speak a to-do to Things, you might see the warning that you should continue the interaction on your iPhone. Make sure that you have enabled Siri integration.
- To-dos might only appear with a delay on your iPhone. When you interact with Siri, you are not directly interacting with the main Things app. Due to spotty internet while you are driving, or if your phone operates on power reserve mode to preserve mobile data or battery, information created via Siri are not immediately sent to the main app. They will appear eventually.
Troubleshooting
Siri doesn’t understand “Things” in my language
Unfortunately, we cannot teach Siri how our app name is pronounced. You might have to experiment with different pronunciations. We found that in German or French, “Sings” or “Zings” yields good results. In Swedish, you might want to try “Tings”, with a regular “T” sound.
As a workaround, you can also set up custom shortcuts with Apple’s Shortcuts app. This allows you to specify any phrase, in your language, to interact with Things. Learn more about Apple Shortcuts.
Siri keeps adding to Reminders
If you find that, no matter what you do, Siri on your iPhone or iPad keeps adding your to-dos to Reminders instead of Things, you can try these steps:
- On your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Siri & Search and scroll down until you see Things.
- Tap Things → Use Ask with Siri so it’s no longer active.
- Reboot your device.
- Unlock your device.
- Invoke Siri by long-pressing the Home button.
- Say "Using Things, add a task."
- Siri will ask: "I’ll need to access your Things data to do that. Is that OK?" Confirm this with Yes.
- Then Siri should ask you "What should it say?" (the task you mentioned in step 6).
- Speak the title of your task, like "Buy groceries".