How to Turn Siri Off on an iPhone or iPad

Just because Siri exists doesn't mean you have to use it

By
Mark O'Neill
Mark O'Neill
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    Mark O'Neill has a tech writer and editor since 2004. His work has appeared in PC Magazine, Lifehacker, and several British newspapers.
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    Updated on April 7, 2021
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    Christine Baker
    Reviewed by Christine Baker
      Christine Baker is a marketing consultant with experience working for a variety of clients. Her expertise includes social media, web development, and graphic design.
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      Siri, the virtual assistant on iOS and Mac, can be helpful, but if you don't use it or you want to disable Siri for another reason, it's really easy to do so. Use the Settings app on your iPad or iPhone, or System Preferences on a Mac, to disable Siri.

      Turning Siri off means that you can't use Voice Dial or any kind of voice control, including Dictation.

      How to Turn Off Siri

      To disable Siri on an iOS device running iOS 11 or above, go to Settings > Siri & Search and turn off each of the following (the buttons will turn white when disabled): Listen for "Hey Siri", Press Home for Siri, and (if you see it) Allow Siri When Locked. Confirm with Turn Off Siri.

      Siri & Search, toggles, Turn off Siri in iOS

      On the message prompt about Dictation remaining on Apple's servers, tap Turn Off Siri. See the instructions below if you don't turn off Dictation at this step.

      How to Turn off Siri (iOS 10)

      Turning Siri off on iOS 10 involves a slightly different process. Go to Settings > General > Siri, and toggle off Siri. Tap Turn Off Siri when asked to confirm your choice.

      Disabling Siri on iOS 10 also turns off Allow "Hey Siri".

      How to Disable Dictation Features on iOS

      Since disabling Siri means losing the ability to use voice commands on an iOS device, it makes sense to disable the Dictation function on your iOS device as well since it won't work anymore. This is also necessary if you wish to remove all of your voice data from Apple's servers.

      Turning off Dictation is the same on iOS 12, 11, and 10.

      1. Go to Settings > General > Keyboard.

      2. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and turn off the Enable Dictation toggle switch.

      3. In the confirmation box, tap Turn Off Dictation.

        Keyboard, Enable Dictation toggle, Turn off Dictation on iOS

      How to Disable Siri on macOS

      Disabling Siri on a Mac is also fairly straightforward.

      1. Go to the Apple menu and select System Preferences.

        System Preferences item in Apple Menu on macOS

      2. Choose Siri.

        Siri icon in macOS System Preferences

      3. Clear the Enable Ask Siri checkbox.

        Enable Ask Siri checkbox in macOS

      4. This turns everything else off, including removing the Siri icon from the menu bar.

      How to Disable Dictation Features on macOS

      Like Siri on iOS, disabling Siri on macOS doesn't automatically remove all of your voice data from Apple's servers. For that, you have to turn off dictation.

      Go to the Apple menu, select System Preferences, choose Keyboard, then select the Dictation tab to turn the feature off.

      Dictation Off radio button in macOS Keyboard System Preferences
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