How to Enable and Use Raise to Speak on Apple Watch

Siri is better than ever on the Apple Watch, which means you might find yourself using it more and more to perform all sorts of tasks. But saying “Hey Siri” over and over may wear thin and grow old, or maybe it just feels a bit weird to you.

But with Raise to Speak, Apple has been able to fix that, removing the need for the wake phrase to be spoken before barking orders at Siri. Instead, you literally just have to raise your Apple Watch to your face to issue a command.

You’ll need to have an Apple Watch Series 3 or newer to take advantage of Raise to Speak.

How to Enable Raise to Speak on Apple Watch

You’ll need to enable Raise to Speak before you will be able to invoke Siri without first speaking the wake phrase. You can do that right from your Apple Watch.

1. Press the Digital Crown to wake your watch up and return to the Home screen.
2. Tap “Siri” to reach all the settings related to the digital assistant.
3. Make sure that “Raise to Speak” is enabled. Flick the switch if it isn’t.

That’s the only setting that needs to be changed to allow Raise to Speak to function. Now it’s time to give it a try.

How to Use Raise to Speak with Apple Watch

Actually using Raise to Speak can take a little practice but you’ll have it down after a few tries. Like so many things, practice makes perfect.

1. Raise your watch to your face. Raise to Speak needs a more purposeful raise than waking your Apple Watch’s face. Bringing it closer to your face is a good way to do that.
2. Speak your command or request in a clear voice. Don’t whisper, as tempting as it might be. Siri won’t hear you if you do.
3. You can lower your wrist once you have Siri’s attention. It’ll hear you just fine – it’s only the initial invocation that needs the watch to be close to you.

There are a couple of other settings that you might want to alter now that you’re using Siri more there. They both relate to the feedback that you get from Siri – whether it’s via speech or just on-screen responses.

Changing How Siri Responds with Raise To Speak

These settings will be used regardless of how you invoke Siri, not just when you use Raise to Speak.

1. Press the Digital Crown to wake your watch up and return to the Home screen.
2. Tap “Siri” to reach all the settings related to the digital assistant.
3. Scroll down to the Voice Feedback section. Select whether you want Siri to always speak to you, only speak when your watch isn’t in silent mode, or only when you are using headphones.
4. Scroll further and adjust the volume of the Siri responses you will receive.

That should be everything you need to have the very best Siri experience on Apple Watch, without having it shout back at you when you aren’t expecting it.

And who knows, now that you’re using Siri on your Apple Watch you might start finding uses for it on your HomePod, Mac, iPad, or iPhone.

Do you have any thoughts, tips, or experiences with Raise to Speak on Apple Watch? Let us know in the comments below.