Use Siri to make a call even if the phone is locked

Siri I wrote a post before about how you can access apps directly from notification on iOS.  Well another little trick is you can use Siri to make a call, without having to unlock your phone.  All you need to do is activate siri and say "Phone Craig".  If you had a Craig in your contacts then it would phone them.

Even if you didn't know any names in someones address book you can tell Siri to call then reel off a phone number. 

This was handy as it won me a bet as I said I could use their phone to make a call even if they had the phone locked.

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Update on 2012-11-08 07:08 by Craig Richards

Following on from this, there is a way you can stop this from happening.  If you go into Settings -> General ->Passcode Lock, you will see the screen like below (this is from my new iPad)

Passcode Lock

All you need to do to stop this from happening is toggle the little switch for Siri to off.  You may still want this enabled, so you can ask questions etc without having to unlock your phone, but if you are worried about security then you have the choice to disable it.

Update on 2015-04-21 08:18 by Craig Richards

Another reason why you will want to lock Siri being used even when you phone is locked is if you grab an iOS device and press and hold the home button and when Siri is loaded, ask the question "Whose Phone is this?".

This will then display your personal card, so depending on what information you have on your card this could then display your phone number, address, email address etc.  Very handy information for someone who may of stolen your phone or just a nosey person!

In iOS 8 the way to turn this off has hanged slightly now, to disable Siri from your lock screen, follow these simple steps

1. Launch the Settings app.
2. Tap on Touch ID & Passcode or just passcode on iPhone 5.
3. Enter your passcode when prompted in order to continue.
4. Scroll down to the Allow Access When Locked Section.
5. Swipe to disable Siri