Perplexity AI: A Strong Contender for Siri’s Crown
Siri is faltering in its capabilities. It often struggles to handle basic inquiries and create simple calendar entries. The outlook remains uncertain, especially with Apple postponing its promised “smarter Siri” features until later this year.
In contrast, Perplexity AI’s new Voice Assistant has made its debut, aiming to seize the opportunity amidst Siri’s shortcomings. This innovative Voice Mode does not merely answer queries; it can also manage calendar events, set reminders, play music, and more. It excels in maintaining conversations and even executing some web tasks—capabilities that Siri has yet to attain.
Getting Started with Perplexity Voice Assistant on iOS
Begin by downloading and launching the latest version of the Perplexity application. In the “Ask Anything” input field, you will notice an animated Waveform icon to the right—this serves as your gateway to the Voice Assistant.
Tap the icon and voice your command. Perplexity visualizes your speech with an animation, indicating when it is listening and when it’s responding. For longer discussions, a Mute option is available to converse freely.
This platform allows for more interaction, encouraging a flow of dialogue. To adjust settings, tap the Gear icon at the top, where you can disable transcripts, enable push-to-talk mode, or change the assistant’s voice.
Voice Mode remains active in the background and only stops if you press the X button. This means you can engage the Voice Mode while navigating through other applications if desired.
For quicker access, consider adding the Medium Perplexity widget to your home screen, which includes a shortcut to the Voice Mode. Alternatively, set up a shortcut that can be placed on your Home screen, Lock screen, Control Center, or even the Action button (to configure this, refer to this guide).
Advantages of Perplexity Over Siri
Perplexity seamlessly integrates with Apple’s core applications, such as Calendar, Reminders, Mail, and Contacts. With the necessary permissions, it can schedule events, set reminders, and even draft emails and messages on your behalf.
Currently, Perplexity boasts a more extensive information reservoir than Siri, as it accesses online databases. For example, asking “when was the Pixel 4a launched?” yields an immediate answer, whereas Siri requires additional verification through ChatGPT.
In testing, Perplexity demonstrated a higher success rate in creating calendar entries and reminders compared to Siri.
When it comes to email drafting, the differences between Siri and Perplexity become evident. Using the same prompt—”Draft an email asking Pranay if he’s interested in a Pickleball match this weekend”—Siri produced a verbatim email stating only that question. In contrast, Perplexity crafted a complete message with a subject line and a compose box for finishing touches, making it easy to personalize and send. Siri also requires your confirmation to send an email.
Drafting text messages proved less successful. While Perplexity had access to contacts, it struggled to draft a message to Pranay (dictating the email or phone number could be a workaround). This may be a minor glitch that gets resolved soon.
Perplexity also supports music playback directly through Apple Music via voice commands. Furthermore, its integration with YouTube allows for quick searches. For instance, when asked for a calming video about Japanese ceramics, Perplexity rapidly began streaming the requested content within the app.
Unique Capabilities of Perplexity Compared to Siri
Engaging with Perplexity feels natural; the assistant maintains continuity by recalling details from previous inquiries and adeptly interpreting context without requiring follow-up questions.
This feature proves useful for general inquiries and educational purposes. Instead of lengthy responses, Perplexity provides concise answers while encouraging follow-up questions, even offering hints about potential next topics.
Additionally, Perplexity can initiate online tasks, although users are ultimately responsible for final confirmations—an aspect that is both fair and appreciated.
For example, upon requesting to reserve a table at the White Olive restaurant at 8 PM in New York, Perplexity opened Open Table with the details pre-filled. Users only need to confirm the information and finalize the booking. Similarly, asking for an Uber resulted in the Uber app opening with the White Olive location pre-mapped.
These features align with the capabilities that Siri, enhanced with Apple Intelligence, aims to provide—but such advancements won’t emerge until later this year, and their specific functionality remains uncertain.
Why Consistency and Transparency Matter
From limited personal testing, it is evident that Perplexity offers more reliable responses than Siri. The Voice Mode’s default continuous operation permits in-depth inquiries without the pressure of urgency that comes with Siri.
Siri can be spotty, showing unpredictability in responsiveness. Perplexity effectively eliminates this inconsistency issue. Even when encountering challenges—like the text messaging confusion—Perplexity candidly admitted its limitations and offered to try again. It is hoped that such small problems will be rectified in future updates.
While Perplexity cannot entirely supplant Siri due to Apple’s restrictions—only Siri has access to OS-level functionalities like toggling settings or managing calls—it presents a viable alternative. For anyone feeling constrained by Siri’s limitations, Perplexity’s Voice Assistant is certainly worth exploring.
