Apple continues to add new capabilities to Siri, but there are still a lot of things the digital assistant can’t do. You can’t use Siri to control third-part music apps like Spotify, toggle settings, or search the App Store.
A jailbreak tweak called AssistantEnhancer takes Siri to the next level by doing all these things and more. It’s the new crown jewel of Siri tweaks, and it contains a ton of useful features that make Siri a more valuable tool.
I use the Spotify app for listening to music on my iPhone, but Siri will only access the stock Music app by default. It’s annoying. Past jailbreak tweaks like AssistantLove have allowed you to use Siri with Spotify, but AssistantEnhancer does even more: you can also use Siri with Pandora and Grooveshark. One of the downsides is that you can only enter up to 5 separate Spotify playlists for Siri to recognize. Each one has to be entered separately with its Spotify ID number in the Settings app, which is a little tedious. The same goes for Pandora.
Another cool feature that’s baked into AssistantEnhancer is the ability to search for local events like you can with Google Now on Android. “Find concerts happening next weekend” brings up a formatted list of concerts with links to ticket info.
One of the neatest and most random parts of this jailbreak tweak is using Siri to remember where you parked your car. This is a genius implementation that I can’t believe Apple hasn’t thought of. Say something like “Remember where I parked” and Siri will drop a geo pin in your current location. If you can’t find your ride, ask Siri to find it again and it will open directions in Maps. I tried it, and it works.
“It makes you wish that all of this functionality was baked in from the start”
Some cool things Siri can do with AssistantEnhancer:
- Turn on and off Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Vibrator
- Set screen brightness to 40%
- Respring iOS Springboard
- Look up available storage
- See available battery life
Apple doesn’t let you use Siri to call emergency numbers (probably to avoid accidental calling, which is against the law), but you can use this tweak to enable 911 calling with your voice. The only thing the developer left behind is the kitchen sink. You can search the App Store, Amazon, eBay, Google Images, and Urban Dictionary. It makes you wish that all of this functionality was baked in from the start.
Nothing is perfect, however. I noticed some slow load times, which is to be expected with anything Siri related. I wish that searching Amazon actually took you into the official iOS app instead of the website. Some aspects of the tweak need to be refined, but there’s a decent level of polish that makes it worth purchasing.
AssistantEnhancer is available now in Cydia for the iPhone and iPad. It costs $2.
