--- description: Apple believes it's just three years away from a fully voice-controlled iPhone. title: Apple Thinks You're Tired of Using Your Fingers to Control Your Phone image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4c281bbd82c59c1f/6988a744a988ca158e6b9824/gettyimages-606525722.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Apple Thinks You're Tired of Using Your Fingers to Control Your Phone  by [Alex Fitzpatrick](/author/alex-fitzpatrick/)  ## Alex Fitzpatrick Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 23, 2016 12:59 PM CUT  New iPhone models are seen on display at the Apple store, in Palo Alto, California, United States on September 16, 2016. New iPhone models are seen on display at the Apple store, in Palo Alto, California, United States on September 16, 2016.Anadolu Agency—Getty Images  by [Alex Fitzpatrick](/author/alex-fitzpatrick/)  ## Alex Fitzpatrick Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 23, 2016 12:59 PM CUT Buried in Bloomberg’s [report](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-23/apple-said-to-step-up-plans-for-echo-style-smart-home-device-itfnod11 "undefined") Friday morning about Apple moving ahead with its Amazon Echo competitor is a far more interesting nugget: Apple believes it’s just three years away from a fully voice-controlled iPhone, according to an unnamed source. From [Bloomberg](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-23/apple-said-to-step-up-plans-for-echo-style-smart-home-device-itfnod11 "undefined"): --- > “” --- A few thoughts on that… 1. Siri’s gotten so much better than it was when it first launched. But it has _very_ far to go before it’s able to effectively emulate the computer on the Enterprise. Still, it’s in the realm of the possible. 2. Maybe this’ll feel retrograde in a decade, but how many people really want to control everything with their voice? It’s handy for some stuff, but not everything—[especially not gaming](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJsSf5CvFTs "undefined"). And I personally still feel self-conscious when I’m using Siri in public, as I suspect lots of folks do as well. (My colleagues Lisa Eadicicco and John Patrick Pullen have more on the future of voice control [here](http://time.com/4355060/voice-control-amazon-echo-google-home-apple-siri/ "undefined") and [here](http://time.com/4385347/apple-siri-future/ "undefined"), respectively.) 3. On the flip side, a fully voice-controlled phone/tablet/computer that works well would be wonderful for users with various accessibility needs. Clearly Apple’s convinced that voice control is the future—along with Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others, all of whom are investing heavily in the area. Given the surprise success of the Echo, maybe they’re on to something. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4505620/apple-iphone-siri-voice-control/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4505620/apple-iphone-siri-voice-control/"},"headline":"Apple Thinks You're Tired of Using Your Fingers to Control Your Phone","datePublished":"2016-09-23T12:59:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:50:32.240Z","description":"It's working on a fully voice-controlled iPhone","url":"https://time.com/4505620/apple-iphone-siri-voice-control/","keywords":["Tech","Apple","Gadgets","Smartphones"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4c281bbd82c59c1f/6988a744a988ca158e6b9824/gettyimages-606525722.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Fitzpatrick","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alex-fitzpatrick/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4c281bbd82c59c1f/6988a744a988ca158e6b9824/gettyimages-606525722.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Apple's new iPhone models released in California","caption":"Apple's new iPhone models released in California","creditText":"Anadolu Agency—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4505620/apple-iphone-siri-voice-control/","name":"Apple Thinks You're Tired of Using Your Fingers to Control Your Phone"}}]}] ```