Siri is the voice assistant that comes with all new iPhones. You can use your voice to make calls, send messages, and find out information. Siri is a good voice assistant, but it lacks many features. Siri’s rivals are Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
If you’d rather use these last two assistants, this guide will show you how to replace Siri on the iPhone with a new voice assistant. This way, you can use Alexa’s voice commands and Google Assistant’s home automation controls without having to use an Android phone.
You will thus be able to choose the voice assistant to launch and use from time to time, “bypassing” Siri (still present on the iPhone).
How to replace Siri on iPhone with Google Assistant
If you want to use the voice commands of Google Assistant, you will first have to download the Google Assistant app, available for iPhone and iPad.
Once the app is downloaded, open it and log in with a Google, Gmail, or YouTube account, so as to access your personalized voice assistant. As soon as you access the interface, press on the microphone icon at the bottom to try some voice commands, such as those described in our guide, “9 things Google Home can do“.
Now you will have to configure Siri so that it can launch the new assistant (you will necessarily have to go through it); open the Commands app, press on Create Quick command, press on Add action, select Assistant, select “Hey Google”, press on Next at the top right, and enter the command “Ok Google” so as to compose the voice command.
Now press Done at the top right to finish creating the command. Now, all you have to do is say “Hey Siri followed quickly by Ok Google, so as to find yourself with Google’s voice assistant ready to use.
Currently, Google Assistant is the only voice assistant that you can use hands-free, without necessarily having to open the app and start the voice command via the microphone icon. It’s not completely independent of Siri, but it’s something you can call from it.
How to replace Siri on iPhone with Amazon Alexa
If, instead, you wanted to use the commands already seen for the Amazon Echo, just download the Amazon Alexa app for iPhone and iOS.
You install the app, log in with the same Amazon account that you use on the Echo or for online purchases, and, once in the interface, press the Alexa button (bottom center), to provide the necessary permissions for the voice assistant to work.
It is currently not possible to create a voice shortcut to start this assistant, as seen with Google Assistant: in order to use Alexa commands, you must first launch the app.
The only applicable shortcut is to open the app from Siri “Hey Siri, open Amazon Alexa” and, once the app is open, press the blue button to start a voice search. Most likely, the integration between Siri and Alexa will improve over time, and with some targeted updates, you will be able to create the voice command to launch it directly from Siri.
How to replace Siri on iPhone with other voice assistants
The ones we have shown you so far are undoubtedly the best voice assistants that you can use to (partially) replace Siri on the iPhone. However, other assistants can be downloaded from the App Store, less known and less precise but still usable to replace at least part of the voice commands supported by Siri.
The best alternative voice assistants that you can try on the iPhone are:
- Voice Assistant: a good all-round voice assistant;
- Custom Voice Commands: another valid app to create custom voice commands.
None of these voice assistants provide the same quality seen on Google and Amazon’s assistants; perhaps only Cortana is saved, but it is primarily valid for web searches and viewing data shared with a Windows 10 PC; to this, we add that none of those reported in the list above offer support for direct commands from Siri, so we will always have to open the app first and then launch the voice command by hand (losing much of the practicality of using voice commands).
Conclusions
Giving up Siri on the iPhone is not easy at all, since it is well integrated with the Apple environment; but using Google Assistant, you can “replace” it easily thanks to the native support for personalized voice commands, from which you can launch a command that actually “opens” the Google assistant from Siri and lets us talk only to it.
For all the other voice assistants (including the good Amazon Alexa), there is nothing left to do but open the app (even with Siri) and press on the right icon so as to start one of the desired voice commands.
If you want to create new voice commands and routines for Google and Amazon’s voice assistants, we recommend reading our guides on creating new voice commands in Google Assistant and creating routines and new voice commands in Alexa.