Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. Guides

How to replace Siri with ChatGPT on your iPhone

Christine Romero-Chan
By

AI is all the rage these days, with ChatGPT seemingly taking over the world. No matter where you turn or look, there’s something about AI or ChatGPT being discussed online.

Difficulty

Easy

Duration

10 minutes

What You Need

  • An iPhone

  • An OpenAI account

  • Siri Shortcuts app

Regardless of where you stand on the AI thing, there’s no doubt that it can be very useful, depending on how it’s utilized. But if there’s one thing for certain, it’s that Siri is quite embarrassing compared to other digital assistants, especially when you compare it to things like ChatGPT. Thankfully, there is a way to replace Siri on your iPhone of choice, like the iPhone 14 Pro, with ChatGPT -- and we’re going to show you how.

How to get a ChatGPT shortcut working on your iPhone

Before you can get ChatGPT working on your iPhone, you’re going to need an OpenAI account. You can make an account for free on the OpenAI website. Once you do that, you're ready to move on to the next steps.

Step 1: Go to https://platform.openai.com on your iPhone web browser, then either create an account or login to an existing account.

Step 2: Select the hamburger menu in the upper-right corner to bring up a menu, then select your account.

Related

Step 3: Select View API keys.

Go to OpenAI, create or log in, view Account, select View API keys
Christine Romero-Chan / Digital Trends

Step 4: Select Create new secret key.

Step 5: Copy the API key you just generated.

Step 6: Go to Yue-Yang’s Github page on your iPhone.

Step 7: Scroll down and select ChatGPT Siri 1.2.2 (English Version).

Step 8: Tapping the link will automatically launch Shortcuts, so make sure that you are doing all of this on your iPhone. Select Set Up Shortcut.

Generate a new secret API key on OpenAI for ChatGPT, go to Yue-Yang's Github to download ChatGPT shortcut 1.2.2 English Version, paste API key, select Set Up Shortcut
Christine Romero-Chan / Digital Trends

Step 9: Paste your OpenAI API key into the text field when the Configure This Shortcut screen pops up.

Step 10: Select Add Shortcut.

Step 11: In the Shortcuts app, tap and hold on the ChatGPT 1.2.2 tile, then choose Rename. We'd recommend a simpler name, like “Smart Siri,” because otherwise, Siri just won’t understand what you’re trying to do. Once you rename it, just say, ”Hey Siri, [Renamed Shortcut]”.

Tap and hold on ChatGPT shortcut tile, select Rename on menu, give it a better name
Christine Romero-Chan / Digital Trends

How to link your ChatGPT shortcut to Back Tap

A very useful Accessibility feature in iOS is Back Tap, which lets you do either a double tap or triple tap on the back of your iPhone to bring up a system feature, accessibility feature, or even a shortcut — like your new ChatGPT shortcut.

Step 1: Launch Settings on your iPhone.

Step 2: Select Accessibility.

Step 3: Select Touch.

Launch Settings, select Accessibility, select Touch
Christine Romero-Chan / Digital Trends

Step 4: Scroll down and select Back Tap.

Step 5: Choose either Double Tap or Triple Tap.

Step 6: Scroll down until you see Shortcuts, then select your ChatGPT shortcut to link it to your chosen Back Tap option.

Select Back Tap, select Double or Triple tap, scroll to view Shortcuts and select your ChatGPT shortcut
Christine Romero-Chan / Digital Trends

How to enable and use your ChatGPT shortcut

Now that you have set up your ChatGPT shortcut, how do you enable and use it? It’s easy!

Step 1: Say ”Hey Siri, [ChatGPT shortcut]”. Again, you should rename this to something simpler that Siri can understand, because if you keep it as the default “ChatGPT 1.2.2” name, Siri just won’t understand (I tried).

Step 2: Press and hold the side button on your iPhone to bring up Siri, then say your ChatGPT shortcut name to run it.

Step 3: Double or triple tap the back of your iPhone if you linked the shortcut to a Back Tap.

Step 4: Once you run the ChatGPT shortcut, just give it a prompt and it will give you a result. Do keep in mind that the answer will only stay on screen for a very brief moment, so you’d better take some quick screenshots before the answer disappears. We couldn’t figure out a way to view the chat transcript, and ChatGPT does not keep a record. For lengthier chats and information, we recommend using a computer web browser so you can retain the full chat log of a session.

ChatGPT shortcut through Siri
Christine Romero-Chan / Digital Trends

As you can see, it's useful to have ChatGPT on your iPhone, but it's not perfect. It can certainly be more useful than Siri, that's for sure, but don't expect to be able to go back and check the chat logs. We recommend using ChatGPT when you need quick answers to things, but if you need lengthier, more in-depth answers, then it's probably still best to use a desktop browser.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Your Pixel 7 is about to get a whole lot less buggy — here’s why
Two Google Pixel 7 Pro smartphones.

Google is rolling out a new Android 13 update that fixes 46 bugs and performance issues for the Pixel 7. The fixes range from squashing smaller bugs to larger, systemwide updates that do things like optimize battery life and overall performance, making this one of the most substantial Pixel 7 updates to date. While the update, Android 13 QPR2, provides a lot of fixes for the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro specifically, it also cleans up performance for the entire Pixel 6 line as well.

There are plenty of small fixes in the update. However, the bigger ones seem like they're going to noticeably improve the user experience for all Pixel 7 owners on just about every front.

Read more
Forget Twitter — this social media app has ChatGPT built-in
Koo app store listing

Koo, a social media app developed in India that pushes itself as a Twitter replacement, is deploying ChatGPT smarts to prop its appeal. The company says Koo is the “first microblogging platform in the world” to integrate ChatGPT to boost the creative flow. Koo follows in the footsteps of Snapchat in deploying ChatGPT for some cutting-edge AI bragging rights.
At the moment, the ChatGPT integration is only available to creators with a sizeable following or those with a verified badge. However, it will soon be available for everyone without any follower count restriction. So far, the company hasn’t said anything about charging users for the feature, or whether it might be moved to a premium tier in the near future, considering the fact that OpenAI’s viral tool is embracing the API route for commercial usage.

Aside from text prompts, Koo users can also use the voice dictation feature to interact with the AI. The draft section of Koo app will let users accomplish tasks like “finding the top news of the day or asking for a quote from a well-known personality or even asking for the post or a blog to be written.” The latter is worrisome, which I’ve briefly discussed below. There's also some precedent for that out there with apps like Paragraph AI doing everything from generating content in various styles to taking over even your messaging app conversations.
Koo is pushing itself as a Twitter alternative and says it has accumulated over 50 million downloads ... but hasn’t disclosed the number of users. However, it looks like the Koo is trying to boost its appeal by recruiting the hottest new tool on the internet, one that will also be immensely convenient to churn out human-like thoughtful content in bulk — which is again the easy route to grabbing more eyeballs.

Read more
The one thing the iPhone 14, Galaxy S23, and Pixel 7 all get wrong
Apple iPhone SE (2020) being plugged in to charge.

At Mobile World Congress (MWC) this year, new smartphones broke cover as one would expect. I won't bore you with all the details; Digital Trends' Joe Maring and Jacob Roach wrote an excellent roundup of all the best MWC 2023 announcements already.

One key quality-of-life-improving feature we picked up on as a theme was charging speed. Apple, Samsung, and Google, the mainstream phone brands by coverage (even if not all by sales), stick to a fast-charging average speed of just over an hour — even with the latest iPhone 14, Galaxy S23, and Pixel 7. By comparison, a phone from Xiaomi, Oppo, or OnePlus can get you moving in 30 minutes or even less. It's time to demand more from our phones.
Fast charging exists — just not for you

Read more