You Can Rename Siri in IOS 18 (but Should You?)
It’s been almost 13 years, and you can finally rename Siri on your iPhone or iPad. iOS 18 will let you customize your own phrase and use it to call Siri . Renaming Siri is possible using an accessibility feature called Vocal Shortcuts that arrived in iOS 18 . However, before you get too excited, you should know that even though you can call Siri by any name, the fastest way to launch and use Siri is to call it “Siri.”
Warning: At the time of writing , iOS 18 is in pre-release stage . This means that you should avoid installing it on your main iPhone. This can cause serious problems with your phone, such as basic apps including Phone or Messages not working properly, network issues, or your banking apps not working for months. With that out of the way, let’s look at voice shortcuts and how they help rename Siri.
What are vocal contractions?
A lot of tech companies are investing in accessibility, which is great. When a company thinks about and develops features for the people who have the hardest time using their technology, the whole world benefits, and Vocal Shortcuts is a great example of this. Apple designed this feature for people who have difficulty using touchscreens, such as those with motor control problems.
Vocal Shortcuts allows you to customize your own phrase and map it to a number of actions in iOS 18, such as AirDrop, any of your automation routines , Control Center, and even launching Siri. If you want to see the full range of supported actions on your iOS 18 device, go to Settings > Accessibility > Voice Shortcuts > Add an Action .
How to Rename Siri on iPhone
One of the most interesting uses of Vocal Shortcuts is to rename Siri. To do this on an iPhone running iOS 18, go to Settings > Accessibility > Voice Shortcuts and turn on Voice Shortcuts . Then click “Add an action” on this page and click Continue . Use the search field at the top to search for Siri and select Siri from the list of results. Your iPhone will ask you to enter a special phrase, and you can select whatever you want. Yes, it’s fine to select “Alexa” or even “OK Google.”
Once you’ve selected a phrase, your iPhone will ask you to say it three times and confirm the new name to Siri.
Why you shouldn’t rename Siri
Vocal Shortcuts works great. Whenever you say a special phrase set for Siri, the voice assistant will launch for you. There’s a catch, however: this method adds a significant delay when Siri launches. It will take your iPhone a second or two to understand the user phrase and launch Siri.
This means you’ll have to wait after you say your own phrase, confirm that Siri has indeed started, and then use the voice command. This significantly slows down the process. This is far from ideal.
Workaround to use a different Siri name
There is a hack that allows you to get the best of both worlds – rename Siri and get access to a fairly fast voice assistant. You can customize your own phrase for a specific Siri command. This is great for repetitive commands that you use often, like “Siri, turn off the lights.” You can customize your own phrase, such as “Alexa, lit” or simply “Turning off.” This way, you can use your own name for certain Siri actions.
To do this, go to Settings > Accessibility > Voice Shortcuts > Add an Action > Ask Siri . Now enter the voice command you use with Siri, such as “Close the garage door” or “Play music.” After that, select the custom phrase you want to use to launch the voice command. You can then say the command three times and confirm the keyboard shortcut with your voice. From now on, you can use your own phrase and it will automatically force Siri to perform the voice command you choose.
Feel free to add as many custom phrases as you like, but be aware that this exposes you to more accidental activations. When you’re having an unrelated conversation on your iPhone, it can execute commands if it hears you say any of the special phrases you select. It would be wise to choose phrases that you are unlikely to use often in normal conversation to avoid unhelpful scenarios such as turning off the lights when everyone is awake.