iPhone Basics: Understanding Voice Control

All ears

Voice Control: it takes some getting used to, that’s for sure. Back in August last year I was ranting about how useless it is, but now that I’ve got the hang of it I’m finding it incredibly useful, especially while in the car (more about that later). When I talk to other iPhone owners who struggle with or have simply given up on trying to use this feature, I get the sense that the problem lies with Apple’s lack of easy-to-find documentation: It’s the one part of the OS that really does need some explanation and can’t really be picked up on intuition alone. That being the case, here is our guide  to getting the most out of this misunderstood feature, and how to disable it.

First things first: how do you activate Voice Control? Simple. On the iPhone itself (and I should point out that this is for the iPhone 3GS only), simply push and hold the home key for three seconds. If you’re using earphones with your iPhone in your pocket, you can push and hold the button on your in-line controls, or if you’re using a Bluetooth headset or speaker-phone you can briefly press the ‘call’ button.  A blue screen with a waveform will appear and a tone will chime to indicate that iPhone is ready to listen to you.

The next thing you need to know about Voice Control, is that in most cases there are actually several commands it will accept for each type of instruction. For example, “call”and “dial” achieve the same result. What I have found is that if it doesn’t seem to understand what you’re saying with one command, there is usually an alternative that will work, so it’s a case of trying the options and seeing what works for you. The command “play more songs like this” never works for me (in fact, it usually ends up dialling somebody), however the alternative (and quicker) “genius” works like a charm every time.

ATMac, a site that focusses on Apple products that can assist with disability, recently compiled the following list of commands that they have verified as being valid:

Phone Commands

Call a contact

“Call” or “dial” plus the person’s name or nickname as entered into your address book. Optionally add the phone number type at the end, such as “home”, “work”, “mobile”. For example, “Dial John Smith Work” or “Call Mum”.

Call a number

“Call” or “Dial” plus the number, just as you would recite it usually. For example, “Dial 555 9592″.

Make a correction

Say “not that one”, “wrong”, “nope”, “no”, or “not that”. [I can't get this to work personally - Steve]

Music Commands

Start music

Say “play” or “play music”.

Play from a specific playlist

Say “play playlist” and the name of the playlist. For example, “Play playlist gym songs”.

Play from a specific album

Say “play album” plus the name of the album. For example “Play album Dark Side Of The Moon”.

Play from a specific artist

Say “play artist” plus the name of the artist. For example, “Play artist Pink Floyd”. The alternate “Play songs by” plus the name of the artist has also been reported to work.

Pause music

Say “pause” or “pause music”.

Skip to next song

Say “next song”. The shorter “next” has also been reported to work. [I've also found "skip track" to work - Steve]

Go back to previous song

Say “previous song”.

Shuffle the current playlist

Just say “shuffle”.

Turn on Genius feature

Say “Genius”, “play more like this”, or “play more songs like this”.

Get information about the current track

Say “what’s playing”, or for more specific information say “what song is this”, “who sings this song”, or “who is this song by”.

Misc Commands

Cancel voice control

Simply say “cancel”.

Get help

Say “help”.

If you’re security concious, you should be aware that Voice Control features somewhat of a security flaw. From the lock screen, even if your iPhone is protected with a PIN code Voice Control will allow anyone to pick up your iPhone and tell it to make a call. If you don’t want this, you can disable Voice Control’s ability to initiate calls while locked. To do this, go to Settings –> General –> Passcode Lock and set ‘Voice Dial’ to ‘off’. Music controls will still work, but dialling will no longer function until the phone has been unlocked.

Working with Voice Control can be frustrating. It’s far from perfect in its ability to understand you, but in particular the problems lie with it understanding not the commands above but the names of people in your contacts list and the artists / albums in your music library. For example, if I want to listen to the Kaiser Chiefs, it won’t work unless I pronounce Kaiser ‘Kay-zer’. If it doesn’t respond to some names in your iPhone, think about how the names would sound if they were pronounced exactly as they were written — this will particularly be the case with Te Reo Maori. Figure out how to adapt to its quirks, however, and you’ll grow to enjoy using it.

One thing you’ll want to learn is how cancel a call being made if it dials somebody in error. The first thing to remember is: don’t panic! The first time mine started dialling somebody in error after mishearing a command I had given it through my earphones, I was sent scrambling in a blind panic for the iPhone itself (which had been in my pocket). Little did I realise at the time that Voice Control commands are easily cancelled by pressing either the home button, the button on your in-line controls, or the ‘call’ button on your Bluetooth device.

I mentioned earlier that I have found Voice Control particularly useful in the car. When the government amended the road user laws in November and I fitted a Bluetooth speaker-phone to my visor, one of the benefits I hadn’t really considered until I had fitted the thing was that not only would I be able to answer my calls safely, but I’d also be able to control my music without tapping on the screen at traffic lights. Previously, I’d have to snap my iPhone into the dash-mount, turn on the stereo, unlock my iPhone, launch the iPod app, flick through my music to find something I like, then begin driving. If I changed my mind on my choice of music I’d have to wait til it was safe to manipulate the touch-screen before I could do anything about it.

With Voice Control, it’s far easier. Now, I simply mount my iPhone, turn on the car stereo and drive off. When I’m ready I can simply reach up to the speaker-phone and tap the ‘call’ button to launch Voice Control, and simply tell it what I want it to do. It makes using my iPhone in my vehicle just that little bit more functional and… well, fun! If only you could change the voice to KITT’s!

Voice Control 2.0?

Voice Control can be a powerful tool that, with a little understanding and a lot of perseverance can genuinely come in useful in a number of situations. For further reading, Apple’s website carries some further tips on using Voice Control, which you can find here.

How are you finding Voice Control? Know any more commands that aren’t listed? Let us know in the comments!