Understanding Siri’s Contact Discovery: What Does it Mean?

Ever since the iOS 14 update, Siri has been playing matchmaker with my contacts, and it’s causing a bit of confusion in my relationship. Out of the blue, Siri suggests people from my past, ones I haven’t spoken to in ages. 

An old contact from my WhatsApp days resurfaced, even though I deleted the Messenger app a long time ago. I even logged back in to check, but there’s no recent contact there. To answer all of my partner’s questions, I decided to dig into this Siri contact-finding situation. 

Turns out, Siri suggests contacts based on your past messages and habits. The good news is that you have control over these suggestions–You can adjust or turn them off in your phone settings. Keep reading to find out if it’s something you need or not! 

What’s Up With Siri Recommending Contacts? 

Apple has made its Virtual assistant, Siri, smarter with the iOS 14 update. Now, it can find contacts and suggest them based on your needs and preferences. By combining artificial intelligence with an understanding of your behavior, Siri suggests contacts. 

It’s not random; Siri suggests contact by analyzing your communication habits. 

For example, it might suggest someone you recently talked to when you’re about to make a call. Or, it could figure out someone important for an upcoming meeting. The goal is to simplify your interactions and boost your efficiency.

Let’s Talk Why Siri Finds Contacts

When Siri says it “found” a contact, it means it identified someone relevant to what you’re doing. Siri checks your recent messages, emails, and apps for suggestions. It may also consider your saved contacts.

Things That Influence Siri’s Suggestions

Siri looks at your past interactions, upcoming plans, location, and how you use your apps. This mix of artificial intelligence (AI) and personal info is to make your digital experience better.

Siri Respects Privacy

There are some misunderstandings about Siri’s new update, so let’s clear them up. Contrary to worries, Siri respects your privacy. It works on your device and studies your usage patterns for suggestions. No privacy invasion here, and your info stays safe.

Is it Accurate?

People often question if Siri always gets it right. While AI is smart, mistakes can happen. It’s smart to double-check before following Siri’s suggestions to avoid errors. 

Some find Siri’s contact features a bit overwhelming—like finding a new contact on your partner’s phone that could be an error! 

Siri looks at your past talks, so someone from before might show up and mess up your relationship. Just remember, Siri’s contact suggestions feature is meant to make life easier. If it’s not, you can turn it off. 

What’s Behind Siri’s Contact Suggestions?

Apple’s Siri boasts a feature known as Siri’s Proactive Intelligence. This means Siri can guess what you want to do and suggest it before you even ask. 

This information becomes the key to understanding your texting habits. But how does Siri know to recommend texting someone you haven’t talked to in a while?

Understanding Siri’s Access to Messaging Apps

Siri has partial access to your WhatsApp conversations but not to Facebook. Now, you might wonder if Siri is eavesdropping on your chats. 

While this is a possibility, it’s not something to worry about. 

Siri checks your Whatsapp data, especially the Data and Storage Usage. This info helps Siri understand how you usually text. 

Why Siri Suggests Certain People

Think about the person Siri tells you to message. If you and that person used to text a lot but stopped recently, Siri will bring them up. This means Siri looks at your past texting habits to suggest contacts. 

Note! Siri won’t tell you to text a whole Whatsapp group, just specific people. It focuses on individuals like your boss, spouse, or ex. This highlights Siri’s tailored approach to predicting your preferred contacts.

If your partner is getting jealous, here’s what you can do:

1. You can influence Siri’s suggestions in two ways. Either send more messages to someone else to beat your old conversation count.
2. Or go to your Whatsapp Settings and delete the Storage Usage info. This can confuse Siri’s guesswork. 
3. Or see how to turn off this feature by following the steps below:

Turn Off Siri Contact Suggestions

Siri Suggestions are handy, but if you want more control over your device’s interactions, you can easily turn them off. Here’s how:

1. Open the “Settings” app on your iOS device.
2. Scroll down and find the “Siri & Search” option.
3. Within the “Siri & Search” settings, scroll down to the list of apps. 
4. Locate “Contacts.”
5. Toggle the switch off next to “Contacts suggestions.”
6. For the changes to take effect, consider restarting Siri. 
7. You can do this by rebooting your device or using the “Settings” app to toggle Siri on and off.

Making Siri Suggestions Work for Specific Apps

If you don’t want Siri to suggest certain things, like texting on WhatsApp or giving ideas for a specific app, just do these easy steps:

1. Go to “Settings” and pick “Siri & Search.”
2. Scroll down and pick the app you want to change Siri suggestions for.
3. Tap on Search, Suggestions, & Shortcuts to control what shows up.
4. Turn off the option called Show App. This will stop the app from popping up in your search results.
5. That’s it! Now, Siri will respect your preferences for that app.