How to turn off Siri and Siri suggestions

Turning off Siri is a serious step, since the digital assistant is baked into virtually every Apple device, and core to how the company expects you to use its products. If you’re committed to the idea, though, here’s how to turn off Siri on iPhones and iPads, or simply dial things back a bit and turn off Siri suggestions.

See also: The best Siri commands

How to turn off Siri

If you want to block Siri’s central voice component — presumably because of accidental triggers or privacy concerns — there are three things to toggle. Here’s how to turn off Siri:

• Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
• Scroll down and select the Siri and Search menu.
• Toggle off two things first: Listen for “Hey Siri” and Press Side Button for Siri.
• A prompt should appear asking if you want to turn off Siri entirely. Hit Turn Off Siri to proceed.

That’s it. Be warned that when you toggle off Listen for “Hey Siri,” you’ll have to re-train the assistant whenever you switch it back on. Apple adds that data used for Siri is also used for its Dictation feature, so you’ll need to shut the latter down too if you want a clean slate.

How to turn off Siri suggestions

You may not even think of it as part of Siri sometimes, but the assistant is regularly recommending apps and actions to speed up your experience. If you always use the Roku app to fire up your TV after work, for example, Siri will start suggesting it on your iPhone’s lockscreen at that time.

To disable Siri suggestions:

• Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
• Select the Siri and Search menu.
• Scroll down to the Suggestions From Apple section and toggle off Allow Notifications, Show in App Library, Show When Sharing, and Show When Listening.

You can, of course, leave one or more toggles active if you find them useful.

Can you turn off Siri suggestions for specific apps?

Certainly. Scroll down further in Siri and Search, and you’ll see menus for all of the apps you have installed. Tap one and you’ll see three toggles under a Suggestions section: Show on Home Screen, Suggest App, and Suggestion Notifications. Switch off as many as you like, and repeat for each app you want limited.

Why would you do this? Usually there’s no reason to target individual apps, but it is an alternative if any of the earlier options are missing, or if Siri keeps making a useless recommendation — not everyone wants to see the Starbucks app when they’re near one of the chain’s shops, for example.