How to make Siri STOP listening on your iPhone and iPad

You may have noticed that Siri sticks around after you’ve asked it something. For example, you say “Hey Siri, how’s the weather in Sacramento” and the multi-colored blob doesn’t go away.

First thing to know is that this is actually how Apple wants it to work. The idea is, you might have a follow-up question, and Siri will still be listening. So, your conversation with Siri might go like this:

If you try this yourself you’ll notice the “Siri blob” at the bottom of the iPhone (that circular blue and red and white thing) stays up even after you get the answer about Sacramento’s weather. And when you want to ask about a second city, you don’t even have to say the word “weather.” Siri knows, from before. So you can just say “What about Fresno” and Siri infers that you’re still talking about the weather.

This is handy, I suppose, if you’re going to ask Siri a series of questions, or have follow-up questions. The problem is, that’s not the usual situation, so Siri hangs around, still listening, and the results can be undesirable. Even worse, this isn’t the way Siri used to work. Used to be, you’d make one Siri request, you’d get the answer, and that was that. We all got used to that, and now it’s changed, and Apple didn’t go out of their way to let us know about it.

The Settings app does not provide controls for this. There’s no switch that says “Keep listening after answering” so we can’t turn it off. All we can do is be aware of the situation. And learn a few techniques that make Siri go away sooner– that is, techniques to make Siri stop listening.

Method 1: Wait it out

This is not a good way. First, it takes a while. Second, the amount of time it takes before the Siri blob goes away depends on whether you are holding the iPhone or it’s just sitting on the table. You should try this yourself:

1. If the iPhone is sitting on a table, or a desk, or the sofa, or anywhere other than your hand, and you ask Siri for something, the Siri blob will stay on the screen, still listening, for about 6 seconds. It doesn’t matter whether you invoke Siri via a hands-free “Hey Siri” or via pressing-and-holding the side button– if the iPhone is not in your hand, Siri will go away about six seconds after it’s finished giving you an answer.
2. If the iPhone is in your hand, and you ask Siri for something, the Siri blob will stay on the screen forever (or until you set the iPhone down– then another six seconds). Obviously I can’t test “forever” but in my experience, if you keep holding the iPhone, Siri’s blob will stay on the screen. So, if you walk around with your iPhone in your hand, and you ask Siri something, and you’re still holding the iPhone in your hand, it’s going to keep listening, and will probably surprise you with another answer down the road because it’s going to hear you talking to someone and it will pick up something in the conversation, and respond. Not good.

(Want to turn “Not good” into “Total disaster”? Let Siri automatically send messages without asking you to confirm before sending. Yes that is a thing. Look in Settings/Siri & Search/Messaging with Siri and be sure that option is NOT on.)

Method 2: Tap the screen

This is also not a good way. It’s inconvenient– if you are going hands-free with “Hey Siri” now you have to use your hand after all. And if you’re holding the iPhone with one hand you can’t tap the screen without involving your other hand, which just seems silly.

Method 3: Click the side button

If you started your Siri session by holding the side button, it’s pretty easy to press it again to make the Siri blob go away. This isn’t so easy if you did it hands-free with “Hey Siri” so while it’s a good option some of the time it’s not always the best option all of the time.

Method 4: Say the magic words

If you want to make Siri stop listening, and you don’t want to wait it out, and you don’t want to have to tap the screen, and you don’t want to even touch the iPhone at all, the way to do it is to say “Thank you” when you’re done. That’s all it takes! In some instances I’ve made Siri go away by saying “That’s it” but it doesn’t always work. “Thank you” always works. Watch the movie below (click it to start) and see.

No matter which method you use to make Siri stop listening, you’ll notice that the answer that Siri gave you disappears when the Siri blob disappears. That’s too bad, and it’s another thing we can’t do anything about.

Here’s hoping iOS 18 is better.

In the meantime, you can still use Siri, and you can make her/him stop listening, using this little “Thank you” trick. Like your mother said: it always pays to be polite.

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