- If Siri frequently interrupts your commands or questions too soon, you can increase the Siri Pause Time to give yourself more time to speak.
- There are three pause lengths from 3 to 5 seconds to choose from.
- You can find Siri Pause Length in your iPhone’s Settings app; tap Accessibility, followed by Siri.
While Siri is not nearly as smart or versatile as Alexa or Google Assistant, it’s convenient to have a voice assistant built into your iPhone and iPad. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon to have Siri cut you off mid-command, though, as you pause to gather your thoughts. If this happens to you frequently, perhaps it’s time to make Siri relax.
By tweaking the Siri Pause Time, you can make the voice assistant wait just a little longer to let you finish speaking before interrupting you or trying to execute your command. With iOS 16, you can use the Settings app to choose among three pause lengths. It will probably be no surprise to learn that the shortest pause is Apple’s default setting.
How to change the Siri pause time on an iPhone
1. Start the Settings app and then tap Accessibility.
You can find some important Siri settings in the accessibility settings.
Dave Johnson/Insider
2. In the General section, tap Siri.
3. In the Siri Pause Time section, choose the delay you prefer – Default, Longer or Longest.
You can choose from among three pause times in the Siri settings.
Dave Johnson/Insider
The default pause time is about three seconds from the time you stop speaking until Siri begins to react to your command. The Longer and Longest selections each add a second, for a maximum delay of about five seconds.
There are a number of other potentially helpful settings on this page as well. You can turn on Always Listen for “Hey Siri,” for example, if you want Siri to be available even if your phone is face down or in your pocket. You can also choose Announce Notifications on Speaker to force Siri to speak all notifications out loud, and use Call Hangup to end phone calls by telling Siri to end the call verbally.