Cool Siri Trick Turns Her into a Beatboxing Machine

By: Nick Gambino

We’ve just learned that Siri can do a lot more than answer mundane questions about movie times and directions to the local Target. It turns out she’s something of a beatboxer.

Siri is a bit of a Jill of all trades. It’s a well known fact that she has numerous tricks up
siri 1 her sleeve – hidden features if you will. Many of which aren’t widely known. Apple doesn’t really have a “Secret Siri tricks” page on their website. No that would be too easy. Instead they’ve programmed in various features for you to discover on your own.

A new one just discovered is her display of beatboxing skills. Go ahead and ask her to beatbox for you. I’ll wait.

She seems all too eager to show off, doesn’t she? As soon as you ask she responds with:

“Boots and cats and boots and cats and boots and cats and boots and cats and boots. I can do this all day. Cats and boots and cats and boots and cats and boots and cats and boots and cats and boots and cats and boots and cats.”

This method of beatboxing (boots and cats) is pretty much what you’d learn when first starting out. So the fact that she relied on this 1st grade beatboxing skill indicates that she has a lot of work ahead of her if she ever wants to compare to the likes of Doug E. Fresh or Biz Markie.

I’m hoping in the next iOS update that she’ll be able to hold her own in a cypher but that might be wishful thinking.

Bonus

  • If you’d like to check out some other Siri tricks try these out:
    Ask (or tell her because honestly you really don’t need to worry about being polite, she ain’t real) her to sing you a song. After some prodding she’ll “sing” a little song from Wizard of Oz with lyrics about whiling away the hours and conferring with flowers. It’s not David Bowie, but it’s cute.
  • Say, “Beam me up” and she’ll respond with something like, “Can you move a bit to your left? Ok, stand by…” or “Scotty has left the building.”
  • Ask her what planes are flying overhead and she’ll check your current location against, I’m guessing, the FAA database. She’ll then lay out a chart detailing all the flights in the area. Crazy.
  • Find out what song is playing just by asking Siri. She’ll use Shazam and her own “ears” to find out. No need to open the Shazam app.
  • Tell her to “take a selfie” and she’ll open the camera app.

Those are just a few of the many hidden features in Siri’s arsenal. Do you know of any I didn’t list here?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nick Gambino is a regular script writer and tech beat reporter for NewsWatch.  He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and daughter.

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