The list of Siri hacks is rapidly growing: after yesterday’s impressive Remember The Milk integration, the iPhone 4S voice assistant has now been shown to work with online banking. “Siri, am I skint?”
Siri won’t open most third party apps on the iPhone, but will send SMS messages, and it’s this workaround that’s proved most interesting. Designer and blogger Ryan Spahn has outlined a way to use Siri to request your bank balance via SMS.
Quite a few banks in the US support this (Bank of America, PNC, Citibank, Chase), and we’ve found one UK bank that also does the same: Lloyds TSB (most rivals only send out scheduled alerts via SMS, not balance requests). Once you’ve connected your number and set up 62229 as a contact, all you have to do is tell Siri to text it “BAL” and the last four digits of your account number – sadly, iOS 5 keyboard shortcuts don’t work with Siri, so you would have to read these out.
LLoyds also offers some other SMS services, including the ability to order a new cheque book or replacement PIN – theoretically you could request these with Siri, though the security measures on them are a bit more elaborate.
Spahn also outlines how you can use Siri with Mint.com, the incredible online personal accounting service, so you can check your credit card balances with your voice. Sadly, Mint.com is not available in the UK, but it’s a wonderful example of what’s possible with just your voice and a lowly text message.
Have you come up with any other crafty Siri hacks? Let us know in the comments.
