How to stop Siri from activating all the damn time
Ever since it was introduced in 2011, Apple’s Siri voice assistant can often drive you mad. As if Siri’s unhelpful answers were not irritating enough when you actually want them, Siri often interrupts a conversation, meeting or TV show when you haven’t asked for anything at all. How do you stop Siri from randomly activating?
Yes, Siri can be helpful — like forcing an iPhone reboot or controlling your robot vacuum cleaner — but it can oftentimes be an unwelcome guest, activating when you want it to zip it.
Siri is available on all Apple devices but is most likely to activate when you least want on the Apple Watch and the Mac. Read on to turn off a few annoying Siri settings.
Stop Siri from activating by itself
How to disable Siri on Apple Watch
The Apple Watch is the only device that listens for commands without saying “Hey Siri” first. Any time your Watch is raised or active, it listens for something Siri might be able to take action on. It’s slightly more convenient, but most people are trained to start with “Hey Siri” anyways.
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
You can turn this off, along with a few other Siri triggers, in the Watch app. Go to Watch > Siri and turn off Raise to Speak.
You can also turn off Listen for “Hey Siri” to further reduce Siri from randomly activating.
If you wear thick long sleeves and/or gloves in the winter, or if you have big hands, you might accidentally activate Siri by pressing in the crown. Turn off Press Digital Crown to stop Siri this way — but keep in mind that with all three of these settings off, you won’t have Siri on your Apple Watch.
How to disable Siri on Mac
Siri was brought to the Mac, but because most Mac apps are built different from iPhone apps, Siri doesn’t always work in the same way. Personally, I never use Siri on my Mac, but I have accidentally triggered Siri more times than I can count.
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Siri is activated with a dedicated Siri key on newer Macs with Apple silicon and a keyboard shortcut on older Macs. There’s also the Siri button in the menu bar. If you have AirPods, “Hey Siri” will work on the Mac, too. To turn this off, go to System Preferences > Siri (or System Settings in macOS Ventura).
Set Keyboard Shortcut to Off. If you’ve recently connected AirPods to your Mac, you should consider disabling Listen for “Hey Siri” on AirPods. If you don’t want Siri at all, turn off Enable Ask Siri and turn off Show Siri in menu bar.
How to disable Siri on iPhone and iPad
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Go to Settings > Siri & Search to find Siri settings on iPhone.
Turn off Allow Siri When Locked to eliminate most accidental Hey Siri calls — when your phone is sitting idly on a nearby desk or table. Turn off Listen for “Hey Siri” to disable the feature entirely, even when your phone is being used in your hand.
Turn off Press Side Button for Siri to prevent Siri from being activated by squeezing the power button on accident.
With all three turned off, you won’t be able to activate Siri at all.
How to disable Siri on AirPods
Siri is activated on AirPods by either a tap (AirPods and AirPods 2) a squeeze (AirPods Pro and AirPods 3) or a button press (AirPods Max).
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
To disable Siri, make sure your AirPods are connected. Go to Settings > Bluetooth and tap on the i button next to your AirPods. From here, you can customize the left and right AirPod controls. Tap on each and change it from Siri to either Play/Pause, Next Track, Previous Track or nothing.
If you don’t see this menu, make sure your AirPods are connected to your iPhone first.
How to disable Siri on HomePod
“Hey Siri” is the primary way to interact with a HomePod. But if, for some reason, you want to physically press the button on top or AirPlay your music and podcasts from your device to your HomePod and nothing else, you can disable Hey Siri.
Just say, “Hey Siri, turn off Hey Siri,” and confirm with “yes.”
If you want to turn this back on later, press and hold the top of the HomePod and say, “Turn on Hey Siri.”
How to disable Siri on Apple TV
The new Apple TV remote puts the Siri button in a weird spot: the side, in the exact spot one might grab the remote while picking it up from a table or a couch crack. And that’s not to mention the old remote, much critically panned, with the Siri button right next to the Back button, the Pause button and the Volume button.
Go to Settings > General > Siri and turn Siri off.
If you’re interested in an Apple TV remote without Siri, we recommend the Function101 Button Remote.
