The iOS 10 Announce Calls Feature

Another interesting feature coming with iOS 10 is the Announce Calls option. This allows your iPhone to inform you about the identity of the incoming caller. But doesn’t the iOS smartphone provide this info from Day 1, you might ask?! Well, not quite, because I’m talking about an audio announcement! Yes, Siri is involved in this feature too! Your virtual assistant is now able to speak out the name of the caller, whenever your iPhone rings and the number is listed among your iOS contacts.

This can be particularly helpful when you’re using your iPhone with headphones while riding a bike, driving or doing something important. Finding out the identity of the incoming call, without needing to look at your iPhone, can save time and allow you to continue what you’re doing. If you’re really busy and the call isn’t important you can simply ignore it and callback later. Else, you can pick up the call on know who’s at the other end of the line without needing to pull out the iPhone from your pocket.

How To Enable Announce Calls
To allow Siri to speak out the name of the caller you have to activate the Announce Calls feature. This is done from the Settings app. Browse for Phone and tap on Announce Calls. Now, select when you want your virtual assistant to speak the name of the contact that is calling you. You can choose between the following options:
– Always: allows Siri to mention the caller name every single time a new call is incoming.
– Headphones & Car: New calls are announced when you use headphones or connect your iPhone via Bluetooth with a car’s audio system.
– Headphones Only: Incoming calls are spoken out only when headphones are connected.
– Never: The Announce Calls feature is disabled.

How iOS 10 Announce Calls Works
When the feature is ON your iPhone starts ringing to alert you about a new call. After the initial ring, the ringtone volume is lowered and Siri speaks out the name of the caller. Then, the device continues to ring at the initial volume level.
Fact: The name of the caller is spoken only if the caller ID is recognized by your iPhone as a Contact. Else, you will hear the “Unknown Number” line. It seems that this initial version of the Announce Calls feature isn’t able to speak out the actual number of the incoming caller. It can only notice if the caller is a saved Contact or not.

Tip 1: There is one other way to find out the caller ID of an incoming call without checking your iPhone. That’s by assigning an unique ringtone or vibration pattern to a frequent caller. However, it’s merely impossible and way to time consuming to do it for a large amount of contacts.

Tip 2: The Apple Watch can also inform its wearer about who’s calling without needing to check the paired iPhone. However, this still requires you to take a look at the Watch’s screen and lose your focus from what else your currently doing.

Other Siri Speak Out Features
– Siri can speak out the text that you highlight with the help of the Speak Selection feature.
– The Apple Watch can speak out the current time, when using the proper Watch Face.