How to Take a Picture with Siri (iOS 16)

Never miss the moment—tell Siri to take a picture or selfie with your iPhone!

By Olena Kagui Updated 10/18/2022

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Many people wonder, can you make Siri take a picture on your iPhone? The answer is yes! Siri makes it easy to take selfies or regular photos. This can save you time and make it easier to navigate your Camera app if your hands are full.

How do you get Siri to take a picture on your iPhone? What about a selfie? Can Siri do that too? Yes! Here's how your iPhone can take pictures with voice commands using Siri. For more great Siri tutorials, check out our free Tip of the Day.

How to Take a Selfie with Siri

Can you ask Siri to take a selfie? You sure can; here's how:

Say, "Hey Siri" to activate Siri. You can also hold the Home button or Side button to activate Siri, depending on your iPhone model.
Say, “Hey Siri, take a Selfie photo.” If you only say, "Hey Siri, take a Selfie", Siri will start reading you the definition of a selfie from the web!
Siri will open the Camera app on your iPhone in photo mode on your front-facing camera.
Now tap the Shutter button to take your selfie. You can also use the Volume up or down buttons on the side of your iPhone.

Siri will only be able to open the camera in the requested mode; you will still have to tap the Shutter button to actually take the photo.

Siri Commands for Different Types of Photos & Videos

If you've been wondering, “how do I use Siri to record video?” or, “can you ask Siri to take a panorama?” you used to be able to, but for some reason, Siri has lost these capabilities with newer iOS versions. Now you can only use the Standard photo mode by saying, “Hey Siri, take a photo.”

We've unfortunately lost most of the front-facing Siri Camera commands as well. Now, the only Siri camera command you can use with the Front Camera is, "Hey Siri, take a Selfie photo".

Hopefully, Apple will reintroduce different types of photos and videos with Siri because this was a handy feature! If you'd like to make your voice heard on this subject, contact Apple.

If you enjoyed this tutorial, you may also want to learn how to view your most recent Siri conversations on your iPhone, and how to change the Key photo for a Live Photo.

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Author Details

Olena Kagui

Olena Kagui is a Feature Writer at iPhone Life who lives in Hawaii. With a BA in International Relations from Anglo American University, Olena traveled the world. She has lived in Ukraine, the Czech Republic, China, and the USA. Olena won an excellence award for a controversial article, got a grant to blog from a war-zone, and published a short fictional story. She hopes to publish a full-length novel and continue writing up a storm on her blog The Travel Bug Bite! When she’s not typing or flying, she is loving on animals, crafting bizarre creations, and devouring all-you-can-eat sushi.

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