There's a small feature of our iPhone that is easy to overlook despite being tremendously useful. We're talking about the possibility for our phone to read aloud the notifications we receive without the need to use headphones. A resource that, in addition to simplifying our interaction with the device, allows us to be aware of our notifications efficiently in circumstances where otherwise it would not be possible.
Notifications, read aloud
Thanks to the notification announcement feature, Siri reads us the notifications from the apps we select, whenever we wear headphones. This is very useful to be able to stay up to date with what's happening while we are busy in activities that do not even allow us to look at the screen of our iPhone.
Going beyond that, and entering the realm of accessibility, Apple offers us the option to have Siri announce notifications through the iPhone's speakers. To activate this functionality, simply follow the steps below:
- Open the Settings app on our iPhone or iPad.
- Enter Accessibility.
- Tap on Siri.
- Activate Announce Notifications through Speaker.
Once this option is activated, it's important that we check the Announce Notifications section, which appears right below. Here we can customize which notifications we want to be announced, which is vital so that the notifications do not overwhelm us and, at the same time, to maintain our privacy, especially when we carry the device in our pocket in public places.
There are many scenarios in which this function can be useful to us. We can find examples in moments when we are cooking or even doing some physical activity and do not want to wear headphones, but still want to be aware of certain important alerts for us. Fortunately, with the accessibility settings that Apple offers us, being up to date with notifications without interacting with our iPhone at all is as easy as activating the corresponding option. It's that simple.
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