Tip of the Day: Use Siri to Find and Launch Apps

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I have a lot of apps on my iPad Air, and I can't always remember what folder I've put them in. Also, sometimes I do remember where the app is located, but it means swiping through a bunch of screens to get to the app. I'm finding that there's a much faster way to launch apps: simply ask Siri. Not only can you use Siri to launch apps, Siri can also help you find and download apps of interest.

To have Siri launch an app, simply say "Launch [app name]," such as "Launch Music." Or you can say "Open Music." If it's a game you're interested in, you can say "Play Angry Birds."

You can also use Siri to find apps of interest. If you know what app you want, you can say, "Get [app name]," such as "Get Instagram." Siri will reply with "OK, searching for 'Instragram' on the App Store." You can also say, "Download Instagram" or "Find Instagram in the App Store."

In addition, if you're interested in a category of apps but don't yet know a specfic app name, you can ask Siri to do a search in the App Store. For example, I'm a tennis enthusiast, so I asked Siri, "Search the App Store for tennis apps." 

I got mostly games as a result of the search.

So I asked, "Search the App Store for tennis instruction apps," and got a small selection of tutorials, a few of which were fairly expensive. So I asked, "Search the App Store for FREE tennis instruction apps," and came up with several apps that looked like they may be useful.

Top image credit: Radu Bercan / Shutterstock.com

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Jim Karpen's picture

Author Details

Jim Karpen

Jim Karpen holds a Ph.D. in literature and writing, and has a love of gizmos. His doctoral dissertation focused on the revolutionary consequences of digital technologies and anticipated some of the developments taking place in the industry today. Jim has been writing about the Internet and technology since 1994 and has been using Apple's visionary products for decades.