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Does Apple even allow you to replace Siri with another assistant? For the longest time on android, all non-Google assistants were crippled by not being able to

Does Apple even allow you to replace Siri with another assistant? For the longest time on android, all non-Google assistants were crippled by not being able to listen in the background or use the assistant hardkey, gestures, or shortcuts. I'm not sure if the Google assistant still has privileges others don't, but I wouldn't be surprised in the least.

jedisct1 1y ago
More or less. This is what Perplexity does.
- bronco21016 1y ago
  I saw an article about this and downloaded the Perplexity app but I was unable to figure out if this was true? Do I need a paid tier? I just quickly worked through the free sign up and couldn't sort it out. The demo looked really slick. Is it worth pursuing?
matthewfcarlson 1y ago
Part of the problem is the wake word “hey siri” is actually handed by a separate coprocessor (AOP) with the model compiled into the firmware. While anything is technically possible, it isn’t as simple as just letting the google app run in the background since the AP is asleep when any of these gesture happen. You could probably setup the action button on the side to open an assistant, but that’s going to be a less pleasant experience (app might not be open, etc). Details are listed below https://machinelearning.apple.com/research/hey-siri https://machinelearning.apple.com/research/hey-siri
- kimixa 1y ago
  Same with android phones - a super-specific hardcoded phrase is much easier to work in the power budgets required for an "always on" part of the device. It's why a manufacturer (like Samsung) can change that sort of thing on their devices, but it's not realistically something an end user (or even an app) can customize in software. It's not some "arbitrary" limitation.
  - smurpy 1y ago
    Back in 1992 or so the NeXT could distinguish (was it 16 or) 64 fixed, trained, phrases. Point being, it doesn’t take too much compute with a finite vocabulary.
    - trinix912 1y ago
      But wouldn't adding your own phrases require a reflash of parts of firmware in this context?
- layer8 1y ago
  I think people would be fine with having to call it Siri if only they could replace the actual assistant.
- wkat4242 1y ago
  There's open solutions for that like openwakeword and microwakeword (the latter can even run on an esp32!) The training is a lot of work though and requires a lot of material. For Home Assistant's voice preview model they had tens of thousands of volunteers record the "okay nabu" wakeword and even still it doesn't work quite as well as hey siri on Apple devices.
- HnUser12 1y ago
  You can now setup Vocal Shortcuts[1] which can be used to run any shortcut or action with almost any trigger word and without saying "Siri". However, I'm not certain if it can wake the device from sleep or not. [1] https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/iphone/iph7f242ea2c/ios https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/iphone/iph7f242ea2c/io...
dangus 1y ago
I presume you could pretty easily use new-ish action button to run a custom shortcut that brings up an alternative assistant app.

jedisct1 1y ago

More or less. This is what Perplexity does.

bronco21016 1y ago
I saw an article about this and downloaded the Perplexity app but I was unable to figure out if this was true? Do I need a paid tier? I just quickly worked through the free sign up and couldn't sort it out. The demo looked really slick. Is it worth pursuing?

matthewfcarlson 1y ago

Part of the problem is the wake word “hey siri” is actually handed by a separate coprocessor (AOP) with the model compiled into the firmware. While anything is technically possible, it isn’t as simple as just letting the google app run in the background since the AP is asleep when any of these gesture happen. You could probably setup the action button on the side to open an assistant, but that’s going to be a less pleasant experience (app might not be open, etc). Details are listed below https://machinelearning.apple.com/research/hey-siri https://machinelearning.apple.com/research/hey-siri

kimixa 1y ago
Same with android phones - a super-specific hardcoded phrase is much easier to work in the power budgets required for an "always on" part of the device. It's why a manufacturer (like Samsung) can change that sort of thing on their devices, but it's not realistically something an end user (or even an app) can customize in software. It's not some "arbitrary" limitation.
- smurpy 1y ago
  Back in 1992 or so the NeXT could distinguish (was it 16 or) 64 fixed, trained, phrases. Point being, it doesn’t take too much compute with a finite vocabulary.
  - trinix912 1y ago
    But wouldn't adding your own phrases require a reflash of parts of firmware in this context?
layer8 1y ago
I think people would be fine with having to call it Siri if only they could replace the actual assistant.
wkat4242 1y ago
There's open solutions for that like openwakeword and microwakeword (the latter can even run on an esp32!) The training is a lot of work though and requires a lot of material. For Home Assistant's voice preview model they had tens of thousands of volunteers record the "okay nabu" wakeword and even still it doesn't work quite as well as hey siri on Apple devices.
HnUser12 1y ago
You can now setup Vocal Shortcuts[1] which can be used to run any shortcut or action with almost any trigger word and without saying "Siri". However, I'm not certain if it can wake the device from sleep or not. [1] https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/iphone/iph7f242ea2c/ios https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/iphone/iph7f242ea2c/io...

dangus 1y ago

I presume you could pretty easily use new-ish action button to run a custom shortcut that brings up an alternative assistant app.