If you're seeking a change from Siri, consider giving Perplexity's AI Voice Assistant a try.
Siri's struggling times are upon us. It's failing to answer simple questions or create even the most basic calendar events, and Apple's delayed "smarter Siri" isn't offering much relief, with a release scheduled for the end of the year.
On the other hand, Perplexity AI's new Voice Assistant is already making waves. Capable of answering questions, creating calendar events, playing music, and more, it's a robust competitor to Siri (or at least a much-needed alternative).
How to Use Perplexity Voice Assistant on iOS
To get started, download and open the latest version of the Perplexity app. In the Ask Anything bar, find the Waveform icon, located to the right. Tap this shortcut to activate the Voice Assistant. Start speaking, and you'll see an animation when you're speaking and when it's responding. If you need a quieter conversation, simply mute the microphone during longer chats.
This is a conversational space, so feel free to keep chatting as Perplexity responds. Tap the Gear icon for settings, where you can disable the transcript feature, enable a push-to-talk mode, or change the Assistant's voice. The Voice Mode continues working in the background, allowing you to switch apps while still interacting with Perplexity.
For quicker access, add the Medium Perplexity widget to your home screen, or create a shortcut and add it to your Home screen, Lock screen, Control Center, or even the Action button (using this guide).
Perplexity Beats Siri in More Ways than One
Perplexity integrates directly with Apple's default apps such as Calendar, Reminders, Mail, Contacts, and more. With your permission, Perplexity can add events to your calendar, remind you of something, and even draft emails and text messages.
Currently, Perplexity boasts a better knowledge base than Siri, as it's connected to the web. For example, asking "When was the Pixel 4a launched?" will bring an instant response from Perplexity, while Siri requires confirmation via ChatGPT.
In my tests, Perplexity proved to be reliable at creating calendar events and reminders, often better than Siri. Drafting an email demonstrated a significant difference: Perplexity expanded the prompt into a coherent sentence, added a Subject, and displayed a compose box, while Siri just couldn't deliver as effectively.
Text messaging wasn't quite as seamless, but I'm hopeful that it's a day-one issue that will improve with updates. Perplexity can also play music directly from Apple Music, using voice commands, and it's quick at finding YouTube videos, too.
Perplexity Does What Siri Just Can't
Perplexity's Voice Assistant excels at maintaining ongoing conversations, remembering details from previous conversations, and providing context-aware responses. It doesn't require follow-up questions like Siri often does. You can ask general questions and learn things without feeling rushed, making conversations feel more natural and fluid.
Perplexity can take actions on the web as well, but you'll be the one to make the final decisions, an arrangement that's fair (and, honestly, appreciated). For example, Perplexity can open OpenTable with dining reservation details already filled in, or even open the Uber app with the restaurant's location mapped out.
These are features that Siri with "smarter Siri" is supposed to deliver, but we won't see until at least the end of the year, and we're unsure of how exactly they'll work.
It's All About Transparency and Consistency
In my limited testing, I found Perplexity's responses to be more consistent than Siri's, and the Voice Mode remains active by default, making it easier to ask nuanced questions without feeling rushed. Of course, Perplexity isn't flawless—there were times when it couldn't complete certain tasks, but it politely acknowledged its limitations and offered to try again if desired.
Ultimately, Perplexity can't replace Siri in the true sense, due to Apple's restrictive policies, but for all the other things, it's definitely worth a try if you're feeling frustrated with Siri's limitations.
- Perplexity's Voice Assistant, in contrast to Siri, seamlessly integrates with Apple's default apps like Calendar and Reminders, making it possible for the AI to add events and reminders on your behalf.
- In a direct comparison, Perplexity's knowledge base appears to be more extensive than Siri's, as it can quickly provide information about topics, such as the launch date of the Pixel 4a.
- When it comes to crafting emails, Perplexity demonstrates a clear advantage over Siri, expanding prompts into coherent sentences, adding subject lines, and displaying a compose box.
- In terms of ongoing conversation capabilities, Perplexity outperforms Siri by maintaining context-aware responses and remembering details from previous conversations.
- Perplexity can also take actions on the web, such as opening OpenTable with dining reservation details already filled in or opening the Uber app with the restaurant's location mapped out, capabilities that the "smarter Siri" is yet to demonstrate.
