The Siri feature on the iPhone 13 has been a part of the iPhone ecosystem for several years.
It is constantly evolving and getting smarter to the point where it can perform many actions on your smartphone for you. But it’s easy to launch the tool accidentally, so you may be looking for a way to stop Siri from opening when you press the side button.
People that use Siri have become accustomed to launching her in various ways, although one option is usually preferred over the other.
you can hold your iPhone up and say the phrase “Hey Siri” to activate it, then you can speak the action that you want it to perform.
Alternatively, you could press and hold the side button (the Power button) on the right side of the iPhone 13, wait for the Siri bubble to appear at the bottom of the screen, then speak the desired action.
I personally don’t like the option to press and hold the Side button, as it’s something that I might do in other situations or might even possibly do by accident.
If you also run into problems with Siri opening when you don’t want it to, then you might be interested in changing this setting to prevent that from happening.
How to Turn Off the Siri Side Button Option on an iPhone
- Open Settings.
- Choose Siri & Search.
- Tap Press Side Button for Siri to turn it off.
Our guide continues below with additional information about turning off the option that makes Siri open on your iPhone when you press the side button. We also provide pictures of these steps.
Another setting you may wish to change involves pressing the spacebar twice. Check out our how to turn off double space period iPhone article if you don’t want your phone automatically adding periods.
How to Disable the Side Button to Launch Siri on an iPhone 13 (Guide with Pictures)
The steps in this article were performed on an iPhone 13 in the iOS 15.4.1 operating system.
Step 1: Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
Step 2: Scroll down and touch the Siri & Search button.
Step 3: Tap the button to the right of Press Side Button for Siri in the Ask Siri section of the menu.
You should now be able to press and hold the side or Power button on the right side of your iPhone 13 without the Siri icon appearing at the bottom of the screen.
Our tutorial continues below with additional discussion about the iPhone 13’s Siri feature.
More Information on the iPhone’s Siri Side Button Setting
Completing the steps above will not completely disable Siri. You can still open the Siri feature on the device if you say the phrase “Hey Siri.” All that will happen when you follow these steps is that it will stop Siri from opening when you press the side button.
If you elect to turn off “Hey Siri” and the “Press Side Button for Siri” options, you will see a pop-up window letting you know that you are about to turn off Siri. When you turn off Siri, that pop-up window says:
- The information Siri uses to respond to your requests is also used for Dictation and will remain on Apple’s servers unless dictation is also turned off.
If you are turning off Siri because you want to remove your Siri data from Apple, then you can disable it by going to Settings > General > Keyboards > and tapping the button next to Enable Dictation to turn it off.
Note that if you turn off the “Listen for Hey Siri” option, you will have to go through the process of setting it back up if you turn it back on. It’s nothing too annoying, you just need to speak five different “Hey Siri” phrases so that it learns how to recognize and understand your voice.
Siri can do some interesting things, too, when you have headphones or Airpods connected to your device. One particularly useful feature lets her announce calls when they are received.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this article has provided you with the information that you need to know in order to stop Siri from opening when you press the side button on your iPhone.
While it can be frustrating at times as you get used to having and using Siri on the iPhone, it can be an incredibly useful tool once you are comfortable with it.
While the specific feature where the side button launches the tool may not be for everyone, I have found that the “Hey Siri” feature itself is actually pretty good. Plus, because it’s such a deliberate action, it’s far less likely to happen accidentally.
Related Topic: Our Apple Wallet opens automatically article can show you how to change a setting and prevent the Wallet app from seemingly launching on its own.
Matthew Burleigh has been writing technology how-to articles and tutorials for over a decade. He has extensive experience in information technology both in small business and as a consultant.
His articles have appeared on dozens of websites and been read millions of times.
He covers many different topics concerning technology, but focuses primarily on smartphones, consumer software, and consumer electronics.
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