For those of you who have tried Siri, Apple’s breakthrough voice recognition software, it’s pretty amazing. It’s great for composing text messages, making calls, and sending emails. Unfortunately, it doesn’t let you interact too much with the apps on your Apple iPhone 4S.
In addition to saving you time by letting you compose tweets using voice recognition, Siri gives you the ability to compose an email; however, you cannot open other apps, such as Twitter and send a tweet.
That’s where this helpful tip comes in. Not only can you use Siri for composing an email, opening websites and setting reminders, but you can save yourself some time by composing tweets too — when you’re on the way to meet up with friends, walking from the building to the car, even when you’re driving (let’s hope you use a hands-free bluetooth headset).
Here’s how to teach Siri to tweet for you from your Apple iPhone 4S – in just 5 steps.
- Enable text messaging
On your computer, visit Twitter and enable text messaging. To do this, login to Twitter > Click Settings (top right corner), and then mobile. For those of you have unlimited texting with your mobile provider, this feature works great for you. If you are limited with your text messages, this might not be the best option.- Enter your phone number
Once in the mobile settings section, enter your iPhone 4S mobile phone number with area code in the field labeled "Phone number." Click 'activate phone.'- Verify your phone
Once you've setup Twitter to allow for mobile updates, the next thing you need to do is verify your phone. To do this, send a text message to 40404 (if you're in the United States) with the word "GO"- Create a Twitter contact
On your iPhone 4S, create a new contact. In the 'first name' field, enter "Twitter." Add a phone number - put in 40404 (United States). If you are in a different location, here's a list of Twitter shortcodes to choose from.- Have Siri send a tweet
To use Siri, either hold the home button or put the phone up to your ear. When you hear a beep, say "text Twitter." Tell Siri what to tweet and then send it. Should you need to edit your message beforehand, you can do so as well before you send it.
One thing to note, while this technique works great for composing tweets, it doesn’t let you easily reference other Twitter users in your tweets – not a deal-breaker, but something I hope gets added in the future. And because Siri is still in beta mode, I’m really hoping that they plan to incorporate additional voice recognition options – such as launching specific mobile apps as well. For now, Siri does a commendable job at helping you get more things done in less time.
So how does it feel to teach Siri to tweet for you on your Apple iPhone 4S? Leave a comment below on your experience and what else you would like Siri to do for you.