Now, though, problems are far and few in between. When we first tried it, the assistant had trouble finding linked MacOS apps. Here, once again, Siri has improved over the course of its beta. Previously, OS X users could use Spotlight search to find files based on location, date, document type, and so on. She also has one major capability that’s not found on iOS – file system search. Siri can play music, search the web, and open apps. Chances are that if your system can be updated to MacOS Sierra, it’s probably fast enough to run Siri without issue.įunctionally, Siri’s features on the Mac are similar to iOS. It also recognized our voice input well, only occasionally missing quick, simple words (for example, Siri usually recognized “jig” as “J”). Our test system, an aging MacBook Air from 2012 with a Core i5 processor, had little trouble keeping up with our voice input. Siri was slow when we first tried it in the beta version of MacOS, but it’s made great strides since then. But Spotlight will just send you to Yelp’s search page. For example, you can ask Siri to find food near you, and it will.

Spotlight replicates some of what Siri can do, and sorta-kinda steps into the role of text based digital assistant, the two aren’t mirrors of each.

In fact, speaking to Siri may not be prudent if you’re at work, on a plane, or relaxing at your local coffee shop. There’s far less need to speak directly to Siri on MacOS, since your keyboard is likely to be handy. That’s more of a problem than you might think for a desktop digital assistant. Both Cortana and Google Now actively listen and respond to a key phrase - “Hey, Cortana” and “OK, Google,” respectively. That makes the digital assistant less convenient than it could be. Apple, always mindful of privacy, requires manual activation, just as on the iPhone. You can yell at Siri all day long, but it won’t respond. Siri doesn’t, and can’t, listen unless you tell it to. One major difference is immediately obvious.

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