Apple had such high hopes for Siri. She was the first mass-scale voice assistant AI available to a significant number of consumers. She was novel. She wasn’t amazing, but she did the basics we all expected of her. In fact, we were told she was going to get smarter.

Much like the janitor in the novel Flowers for Algernon, while Siri originally showed signs of increased intelligence, a regression back to mental deficiency happened and Siri got dumber when she was supposed to get smarter. And up until now, one of the most common uses for Siri was seeking out her hilarious answers to certain questions.

iOS 10 update

Siri got a little bit smarter recently with the new iOS 10 update. You can now do much more integrated activity by talking to Siri. Your Siri experience will now have slightly less “I’m afraid I can’t do that,” and thankfully, less “Searching for: Command I just entered” with Siri mistaking your command for a question to Google search.

Siri can now get you a ride by calling Uber and Lyft

One of the most useful questions you can now ask Siri is to get you an Uber! The same goes for Lyft. Now you can just say “Siri, get me an Uber,” and it’s as easy as that.

Developers can use Siri!

In a move that is more open-source oriented than Apple’s typical corporate philosophy, Siri is now open to third party developers in the new iOS update. This means that if you build an app that can be easily and simply commanded by an input, if the developer codes such a connection, Siri can actually oblige in a user’s request.

Third-party app integration that actually works

"Siri, tell Kayla I'll be at the rally in nine minutes with WhatsApp."

“Siri get me an Uber to McDonalds.”

“Siri, send Jake £5 using Square.”

All of this and more is now actually possible with the increased Siri integration to third-party apps in the iOS update. Having Siri actually do stuff for you besides cracking jokes and being a hapless, useless moron is no longer the fevered dream of Steve Wozniak when he’s in the middle of raid in World of Warcraft.

“Hey Siri, order me a Domino’s Pizza and remind people that I’m the actual brains behind the success of Apple.”

Apple is wise to ensure that their future includes an actually improving Siri. Especially when for years it hasn’t just been Siri in the Personal Assistant marketplace. Competitors like Amazon’s Alexa are much better reviewed, featuring product placement in hit shows like Mr. Robot wherein the ingenious detective who is trying to take down the hacker collective “F. Society” sates her loneliness with conversations with her voice assistant Alexa device. Siri stepped up her game, and can actually now be quite useful, if you know what to ask her.

Hey Siri!

“WHAT?!” — Siri

This is not part of the iOS 10 update, but many Apple device users with Siri enabled still don’t realize that you can now use Siri without having to awkwardly hold down the hold button. If this setting is enabled, you can merely say “Hey, Siri!” and then enter your command and the obedient AI will oblige your desire. Or maybe accidentally call your grandmother.