Using Siri to send a text message to a single contact or multiple recipients in your address book is quick and straightforward. It’s possible to have a conversation with someone via text message without having to touch your iPhone screen.
Siri can send new messages and read replies to you.
How to ask Siri to read text messages
Siri can read out the messages you receive. You can either request to hear your most recently received message, or ask for the last message sent by a specific contact.
Hey Siri, read my last message
Hey Siri, read my last message from John
Hey Siri, read me new messages from Jane
Once Siri has read out the message, it will ask you if you would like to reply. Say “Yes” or “No” depending on your preference.
Replying to, and sending new messages with Siri
To send a message, activate Siri by pressing the side button or home button on older iPhone’s, or by saying “Hey Siri” if you have the feature enabled.
Hey Siri, send a message to Jane
Hey Siri, send a message to *dictate phone number*
Siri will then ask you to dictate your message. Read our Siri dictation guide for a full list of dictation commands.
What do you want to say?
You can also include the message and recipient details in the same phrase:
Hey Siri, text Jane ‘I’m running 10 minutes late’
Once you’ve finished dictating, Siri will then confirm the message back to you and ask what you’d like to do next:
- Send it
- Cancel it
- Review it
- Change it
Speak the option of your choice. Once the message is completed, Siri will ask you if you want to send it. To deliver the message immediately, say ‘Yes’.
How to send a message to more than one person at the same time
To send a message to several people at the same time, just say their names when making your request:
Hey Siri, send a message to Jane Smith and John Smith
Siri will automatically group the recipients and ask you to dictate the message.
Send a message using a third-party app
You can send a message using another service if you specify which app you want to use when making your request.
Hey Siri, text Jane ‘I’m running 10 minutes late‘ on WhatAapp
Very helpful articles! My husband recently lost his sight due to cancer in his central nervous system. This will help tremendously in giving him back a feeling of independence and remaining connected to the “digital world”!
Thanks for making these documents! Do you have a way to download them as a pdf. file?
Hey Patty, glad the article helped, and that you can use Siri to help your husband!
We don’t provide them in PDF format right now, but you might be able to ‘Print as PDF’ from your web browser.
Siri is not asking me to dictate my message I would like to send. It says I need to unlock my iPhone first then it opens the messaging app. I would like to use this feature hands free but it is not working.
After Siri reads me my message and asks if I want to respond, I say yes. Siri then tells me this action cannot be done. Does anybody know the reason why and how to fix it?