Get Answers to Questions

One of Siri’s most notable accomplishment is eliminating the friction that comes between friends when they disagree about a random fact. Siri never tires of your questions and is always ready and willing to answer. Besides workaday inquires like “Who starred in Groundhog Day?” “How many teaspoons are in 10 milliliters?”or “What is a 15 percent tip on $89.45?” Siri can also delve into arcane, like “What planes are flying overhead?” “How many teeth do great white sharks have?” or even “Does Steve Wozniak have a girlfriend?” Here are some of the major topic areas where Siri has got you covered.

Ask About Sports

If you’ve got sports questions, Siri most definitely has answers, with detail rivaling what even your most sport-crazed of friends could supply. Ask about scores, schedules, and standings, as well as player and team information. Apple continues to expand Siri’s knowledge to new categories of sport, but you’ll still find some blind spots (boxing and National Women’s Soccer League, for instance). As of now, you can ask about baseball, basketball, cricket, football, golf, hockey, motorsports, soccer, and tennis. (See Which Sports Does Siri Know About? for details.) Siri keeps up with a gobsmacking 29 baseball leagues; soccer has the most international coverage, with Siri reporting back on leagues from around the world. #Goooalll!

Schedules

Wondering what’s coming up next? Prepare your face paint and ask Siri: “What basketball teams play tonight?” “When do the Raiders play next?” “When is the U.S. Open?” “When is the next NASCAR race?” “Show me the season schedule for the Timbers.” “What channel is the A’s game on?”

Scores

Siri knows about scores from games both in progress and past (Figure 20). Though, you’ll find it has less historical information about sports like tennis at its virtual fingertips than it does about football and baseball. Ask it questions like: “What’s the latest from the Australian Open?” “Who’s winning the PGA Championship?” “How’s Nadal doing?” “Did the Cubs win last night?” “Who won the Super Bowl in 1979?” “Tell me the soccer scores from yesterday.”

Figure 20: Use Siri to keep up with the latest scores.
Figure 20: Use Siri to keep up with the latest scores.

If Siri needs more information to home in on your answer, it asks a clarifying question like “Which league?” and give you options to choose from.

Standings

If you want to know how your favorite team is doing or even what the league looked like a few decades ago, Siri can help. Say: “Show me NHL standings,” “How are the Warriors doing?” “What are the NCAA standings for women’s basketball?” “Tell me MLB standings for 1966.” “What’s the best college football team?”

Team Info

Ask Siri: “Tell me about the Cubs.” “Show me the roster for the Golden State Warriors.” “Who is pitching for the Yankees this season?” “Is anyone on the Warriors injured right now?” “What team scored the most runs in the MLB in 2017?”

Player Stats

Siri can answer questions about individual players, too (Figure 21). Try: “How many Super Bowls has Tom Brady won?” “Which baseball player has the best batting average?” “Which quarterback has the most passing yards?” or “What are LeBron James’s stats?”

Figure 21: Siri has details to share about players, too. Here I’ve asked which basketball player makes the most money (left), which Yankee has the most runs (middle), and what Tom Brady’s stats are (right). On the Apple Watch’s small screen, scroll down to see more.
Figure 21: Siri has details to share about players, too. Here I’ve asked which basketball player makes the most money (left), which Yankee has the most runs (middle), and what Tom Brady’s stats are (right). On the Apple Watch’s small screen, scroll down to see more.

Ask About Math and Conversions

We encounter math and conversion quandaries every day as we go about our lives, whether we’re in the grocery store trying to figure out if one product is cheaper per ounce than the other or at a restaurant splitting a bill. There’s no need to launch the Calculator app or type a query in Google, just ask Siri. Depending on the problem’s complexity, Siri pings either Calculator or the knowledge database Wolfram Alpha to find what you need.

Arithmetic and Beyond

Siri handles arithmetic easily. Make sure to speak the punctuation in equations, saying, for example, “Open parenthesis” and “close parenthesis” if numbers are enclosed by parentheses, or “point” when there’s a decimal point. Ask Siri to:

  • Do basic calculations: Say “What’s 502 divided by 4?” “What’s 14 dollars and 55 cents times 12?” “What’s 133 plus 202 plus 555?” or, for kicks, “What’s zero divided by zero?” (Figure 22).

    Figure 22: Siri can answer a variety of math problems. Occasionally, you’ll get a…creative answer.
    Figure 22: Siri can answer a variety of math problems. Occasionally, you’ll get a…creative answer.

    Take it one step further by asking Siri to do more math with the results from your first question, for example by saying “Multiply that by 12.”

Tip: Siri on the HomePod and Apple Watch can handle most problems, but may direct you back to your iOS device, especially if your query results in an equation, formula, or graph.

  • Calculate a tip: Say “How much is a 15 percent tip for 202 dollars?” or even “What’s 92 dollars and 62 cents split three ways?” to figure out how much each person in your party owes for lunch, tip included (Figure 23).

    Figure 23: Use Siri to figure out a tip (left), or even split the bill and calculate the tip per person at the same time (middle and right).
    Figure 23: Use Siri to figure out a tip (left), or even split the bill and calculate the tip per person at the same time (middle and right).

  • Figure out other percentages: “What is 35 percent of 80?” “What percent of 536 is 22?” “Solve 30 is 20 percent of what number?”

  • Help with homework: Siri can tackle many other problems, from graphing to solving quadratic equations. Try “What’s the average of 12.34 and 56.78 and 90.12?” “What’s the standard deviation of 23.46 and 181.25 and 90.2?” or “Graph 7x plus 2.” If you stump it, Siri sends you to the web.

  • Recall formulas: Knowing the formula is often half the battle. If you find your mathematical memory a little rusty, ask Siri: “How do I find the distance between two points?” “How do I find the area of a rhombus?” or “How do I find the volume of a sphere?”

  • Answer other math-related questions: Siri can also give you quick answers to other types of math questions, too (Figure 24). Try: “What’s the Fibonacci sequence?” “How many prime numbers are there between 0 and 100?” or “What’s the Roman numeral for 2019?”

Figure 24: Using Siri is the easiest way to answer a whole host of math-related questions.
Figure 24: Using Siri is the easiest way to answer a whole host of math-related questions.

Quick Conversions

Puzzling over a recipe or trying to figure out how long of a race you promised a friend you’d run? Siri makes conversions easy. Use Siri to:

  • Change currency: What’s 23 euros in dollars?”

  • Convert temperature: “What’s 90 degrees Fahrenheit in Celsius?

  • Decode distances: “What’s 10 kilometers in miles?” “How many centimeters are in 14.5 inches? “How many feet are in 23 yards?”

  • Figure out common kitchen conversions: “How many teaspoons are in 5 milliliters?” “How many fluid ounces are in 8 pints?” “How many ounces are in 40 grams?” “What’s half of 3 tablespoons in teaspoons?”

Ask About Time

When you’re in a hurry, ask Siri “What time is it?” for a quick response. Siri can tell you not only what time it is where you are, but also what time it is anywhere in the world. “What time is it in Beijing?” “What time is it in Cape Town?”

You can also ask it questions like “What is 3 years in hours?” “How many minutes are there in a month?”

Siri can answer many other time and date questions that otherwise can be a pain to figure out: “What day was 46 days ago?” “How many days until 4th of July?” “What day is next Friday?” “What day of the week is Halloween this year?” “When does Daylight Saving Time start?”

Ask About Food

Siri has beefed up its knowledge of foods, though there are still times when it search the web instead of answering your questions. It can also help you when you want to eat out, by finding highly reviewed restaurants and even making you a reservation.

Nutrition Facts

Whether you’re watching calories or someone in your household has joined the Keto craze, Siri can help with information from the USDA Food Composition Databases. Ask it: “How many carbohydrates are in whole wheat bread?” “What’s the nutritional value of canola oil?” “How many calories are in a cup of milk?” “How much fiber does watermelon have?” It helps to keep your questions specific (Figure 25).

Figure 25: Siri is always ready to serve up an extra helping of humor. Keep questions specific if you want to avoid silliness (or general, if you don’t).
Figure 25: Siri is always ready to serve up an extra helping of humor. Keep questions specific if you want to avoid silliness (or general, if you don’t).

Restaurant Reviews and Reservations

If you’re looking for a place to grab a bite, ask something like: “Are there any good delis nearby?” Siri retrieves a list of matching restaurants along with their Yelp rankings. Or, say: “Show me the reviews for Cha Cha Cha” to see reviews of one restaurant in particular.

Siri on your iOS device has one more food trick: it can make a restaurant reservation for you using the service OpenTable (Figure 26).

Figure 26: Hungry? Use Siri on your iPhone or iPad to make a quick restaurant reservation.
Figure 26: Hungry? Use Siri on your iPhone or iPad to make a quick restaurant reservation.

Try: “Two for dinner in San Francisco on March 29.” Or, “Table for six for sushi tonight.” Siri shows you a list of restaurants with availability. Tap one to switch to the OpenTable app and make your reservation. (If you don’t already have the app installed, Siri asks you to download it.) If you don’t say which city, Siri uses your current location. If you don’t specify a time, Siri asks you to clarify or makes an educated guess based on which meal you’ve mentioned.

Ask About Movies

Once upon a time, we had to look in the newspaper to find out what movies were playing and where, then came Moviefone’s handy call-in line with times from all the theaters in town. (Remember Mr. Moviefone?) Fast forward to today: If you’re ready to get up off the couch and get yourself to the theater, Siri is here to share your options.

See what’s playing, find showtimes and theaters, read reviews, watch trailers, delve into movie trivia, and look up award winners. If you change your mind about leaving the house, Siri can help you get a movie off iTunes, too.

What’s Playing

To find out what’s playing now, ask “What movies are playing?” Or, “What are the best rated movies playing near me?” As long as you have location services for Siri turned on (see Location, Location), it gives you a list of movies with local showtimes (Figure 27).

Figure 27: Siri can tell you what’s playing and when (left) and even sort what’s playing by rating (right).
Figure 27: Siri can tell you what’s playing and when (left) and even sort what’s playing by rating (right).

If you already know what you want to see, cut to the chase and ask: “Where is Spider-Man playing?” or “Tell me about Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.”

Times, Trailers, and Tickets

When you ask directly about a movie or tap a movie title in the Siri window for more detail, you get a description of the plot, cast, runtime, trailer, and more (Figure 28).

Figure 28: Delve into the details in the Siri window.
Figure 28: Delve into the details in the Siri window.

Tap or click the movie’s Rotten Tomatoes rating to see excerpts from reviews. Tap or click a trailer to play it. Tap the “Playing in theaters nearby” heading to see times at particular theaters. From here you can buy tickets in the Fandango app for iOS, if you have it installed. (The experience is similar on your Mac, although Siri opens a Safari window and takes you to Fandango.com for more details and tickets.)

If the movie is available on iTunes, you’ll see a button to buy or rent it as well as an “Available on: iTunes” option at the bottom of the Siri window in iOS. Tap to open iTunes and purchase or rent it.

You can also jump straight to the information you’re looking for by asking a direct request like: “Play Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse trailer.” “What are the ratings for A Star is Born?” “Is Spider-Man available on iTunes?”

Movie Trivia

When it comes to trivia, Siri can search for information about movies both current and past. It knows about cast members, directors, awards, and more. Ask it: “What movies has Keanu Reeves starred in?” “Who directed Glass?” “Who won the Oscar for best actress in 1999?” “Did Raging Bull win an Oscar?”

Ask About People

Siri can retrieve bios on writers, scientists, inventors, presidents, historical figures, and more (Figure 29) as well as answer questions about them like: “Who was the fifth president of the United States?” “Where did Ida B. Wells go to college?” “Where was Ada Lovelace born?” “Who invented the internet?”

Figure 29: Siri knows about presidents, scientists, inventors, authors…and the occasional clown.
Figure 29: Siri knows about presidents, scientists, inventors, authors…and the occasional clown.

Siri also recently expanded its knowledge into the wide world of celebrity trivia. It sticks to facts—spouses, significant others, biographical data, and details like height and weight—rather than wading too far into the world of gossip.

Try: “Does Justin Bieber have a girlfriend?” “How much money does Beyoncé make?” “How old is Mick Jagger?” “What high school did Oprah go to?” or, if you’re looking for a laugh, “Where’s Elvis?”

Ask About Stocks

Whether the market is a bull or a bear, Siri has its pulse. You can ask it about individual stocks or about stock exchanges, including the FTSE, NASDAQ, Nikkei, NYSE, and more.

Try: “What’s Coca-Cola’s stock price?” “What did Facebook close at today? “Compare AAPL and the NASDAQ.” “How are the markets doing?

Ask About the Weather

Is tomorrow a galoshes day? Siri knows all. Try: “What’s the weather like?” or “Will it rain this weekend?” (Location services must be turned on for Siri to know where you are. See Location, Location.) Or, “What’s the forecast this Friday in London?”

You can also ask more practical weather-related questions to help you get out the door prepared. Ask: “Will I need a coat in Chicago this week?” “Do I need an umbrella?” (Figure 30).

Figure 30: Siri can help you prepare for the weather.
Figure 30: Siri can help you prepare for the weather.

Siri’s weather knowledge includes facts you might not expect, too (Figure 31). Ask it: “When is sunrise in Moscow?” “What’s the humidity?” “How are the carbon monoxide levels?” “What’s the air quality like?” (Sadly, it can’t tell you pollen levels, yet.)

Figure 31: Whether it’s wildfire season again or smog has settled on your town, Siri has detailed air quality information.
Figure 31: Whether it’s wildfire season again or smog has settled on your town, Siri has detailed air quality information.

Ask About Random Facts

Siri’s bread and butter is the random fact. Its knowledge ranges from the science-y to the silly. Ask it: “Why are leaves green?” “How big are great white sharks?” “What’s the chemical symbol for krypton?” “What’s a whoopee cushion?”

Siri can also answer some surprisingly specific questions related to your location. Ask “Was that an earthquake?” to hear a report of any seismic activity that’s happened nearby in the past 72 hours. (Siri draws from U.S. Geological Survey’s earthquake data.) Ask “What planes are flying overhead?” to see a list of flights passing overhead (Figure 32).

Figure 32: It’s a bird—no, it’s Alaska Airlines flight 1759!
Figure 32: It’s a bird—no, it’s Alaska Airlines flight 1759!

Ask for a Joke

Need a chuckle? Siri has a bountiful supply of jokes. For starters, say any of the following: “Siri, tell me a joke.” “Knock knock.” “How do I look?” “Read me a haiku.” “How many Apple Store geniuses does it take to screw in a lightbulb?” “Can you stop time?” “Tell me a story.” “What’s the meaning of life?” “Tell me a pun.” “What should I wear for Halloween?” “Is Jon Snow dead?”

Persistence is rewarded: Ask Siri the same question again and again for more witty replies (Figure 33).

Figure 33: Siri has no end of jokes to entertain you.
Figure 33: Siri has no end of jokes to entertain you.

Ask What You Can Ask

To learn more about what Siri can do, say “What can I ask?” “What can do you?” or just “Help!” On an iOS device, Apple Watch, or the Mac, it replies with a list of categories (Figure 34). Tap or click a category to see sample commands.

Figure 34: Whenever you need ideas for using Siri, ask it what you can ask. Then, scroll through categories and click one for examples. Some categories—like Phone seen here—only appear on certain devices, in this case, the iPhone.
Figure 34: Whenever you need ideas for using Siri, ask it what you can ask. Then, scroll through categories and click one for examples. Some categories—like Phone seen here—only appear on certain devices, in this case, the iPhone.

What categories you see varies depending on the device. For example, your iOS devices includes special ones like Apple Pay, Restaurants, and Translation. Siri on iOS also shows categories for some third-party apps like Venmo and Whatsapp Messenger if you have them installed. Mac-specific categories include Finder, System Preferences, and About this Mac.

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