Siri, Apple Music and Other iPhone Questions

We asked readers to send us questions about Apple’s newest smartphones, the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, which go on sale on Friday. Brian X. Chen and Farhad Manjoo answer the queries.

Q. I understand that buying the phone at a discounted price and being locked into a two-year plan is not worth it if I plan to keep the phone longer than two years. What’s the best AT&T plan for purchasing an iPhone 6s? Should I pay full price upfront? Or should I choose a plan to pay for the phone over time? — Peter Liao, Manhattan

Brian: Take a look at my recent article on choosing the best phone plan, which includes a roundup of plans and prices using an iPhone as the base example. After doing the math, you will find that over two years, the total cost of smartphone ownership and service on a two-year contract is slightly lower than on a two-year installment plan.

However, if you hold onto a phone longer than two years, after you finish paying off the phone on an installment plan, the cost of the smartphone is subtracted from the monthly bill and you pay a lower rate, saving money over time. For you, an installment plan is the way to go.

You should look at your phone bills and calculate the average amount of data you use each month and choose a data bucket. (If it helps, the average American consumer uses three gigabytes of cellular data a month). Then choose an installment plan — for AT&T there is Next 12, Next 18 and Next 24. For your sake, Next 18 would work because it spreads phone payments over 24 months; after that, the monthly rate drops. You don’t have to pay the full price of the phone upfront; it makes no difference because there is no interest charge when you spread payments over monthly installments. Hope this isn’t too confusing.

Q. Can you turn off “Hey Siri”? Is it on by default only on the iPhone 6 and 6s, or all devices using iOS 9, or some subset of iOS 9 devices? — Hugh McNally, Bridgeport, Conn.

Farhad: “Hey Siri,” the feature that lets you activate the iPhone’s voice assistant without pressing a button, is available on the iPhone 4s or later models, but on most models it works only when the device is plugged into a charger. On the latest iPhones, it works even when the phone is unplugged.

The feature is turned off by default, but the iPhone gives you the option to turn it on when you set up a new phone. If you are running iOS 9, Apple’s latest operating system, you will be asked to say “Hey Siri” several times to teach the phone your voice.

Q. Does 3D Touch make the Apple Music interface any less frustrating? — Andrew Bell, Richmond, Va.

Brian: It depends on what’s frustrating you. The new 3D Touch feature makes Apple Music a bit quicker to control. If you press down firmly on the Apple Music icon, you can load a menu of quick actions, including the ability to search for a song, or play the Beats 1 radio station. You can also press lightly on an album to peek at the list of songs and then press hard to open the album.

It’s important to keep in mind that 3D Touch is just an additional way to interact with Apple Music. Personally, I find Siri much quicker for playing music with Apple Music. If you say something like “Siri, play ‘Doolittle’ by the Pixies,” it will begin playing that specific album. This is especially useful when driving in the car.

Q. You mentioned that “Apple says Siri is watching for a pattern, not recording or storing any data.” Are you sure the Siri server doesn’t store data? — Wynn Miller, Colorado Springs

Farhad: To make “Hey Siri” work, the iPhone has to constantly analyze audio patterns to figure out if someone is calling Siri’s name. That audio, Apple says, is not stored on the iPhone.

However, after you invoke Siri, your voice is recorded and sent to Apple’s servers to decipher. The device may also send other data, too, like your location and the names in your contacts. Apple says this data is not associated with your name or Apple account, but rather with a random identifier linked to your device. Apple has said the random identifier and other data that Siri has collected from you in the previous six months will be deleted if you turn Siri off on your phone. The company says voice snippets that are older than six months are “dissociated” from specific user accounts; these anonymized snippets are deleted after 18 months on Apple’s servers.

Q. Would there be an overlap (and potential confusion) between 3D Touch-driven interactions and long tap-driven ones? — Amitava Bhattacharyya, New York, N.Y.

Farhad: Yes, there is some confusion, but only when you first start using 3D Touch. After a few uses, you will easily be able to remember when to press longer and when to press harder. It helps that there aren’t many interface actions in the iPhone that call for a long press on the screen. The most common use of the long press is to rearrange the icons on your Home Screen, which people don’t do very often.

Q. Is there a tutorial or iPhone expert who could teach me how to use my new iPhone 6s Plus? I use “Hey Siri” to set calendar appointments, make phone calls and send texts, but that is the extent of it. — Ellen G. Siegel, Durango, Colo.

Brian: Apple provides a user guide on its website for the iPhone running iOS 9. If you visit an Apple retail store, the employees would also walk you through the various features. For Siri specifically, Apple also has a webpage explaining how to use the voice assistant. Lastly, the iPhone includes a “Tips” app that offers a brief tutorial for some of the main features on the phone.

Q. I’ll probably upgrade soon from my iPhone 5 to the 6s. If I tell Siri to guide me to a particular destination, will it do so without my having to tap on Maps? — Bernd, Sierra Madre, Calif.

Farhad: Yes, that should work on all iPhones that support Siri.

Q. Are the phones purchased via the iPhone upgrade program unlocked? If so, why does Apple ask what carrier you are going to use when I try to reserve a phone? — Charlie, Austin, Tex.

Brian: Yes, they are unlocked. Apple asks you to choose a carrier because it requires that the iPhone be activated on AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint or T-Mobile USA (presumably because of business arrangements it made with those carriers).

That still means, however, that the device is unlocked. So if you decide you want to switch to another carrier, you can sign up for its plan and pop in that carrier’s SIM card. Or if you travel abroad, you can switch to a foreign carrier’s SIM card. (In the past, you would typically have to ask the carrier to unlock the phone before your phone would work on a different network.)

Q. I will be upgrading from my Samsung Galaxy 3. Currently, I download and store YouTube videos (MP4 and MP3) on my phone. If I get an iPhone 6s, will I be able to do that? — Ken Leebow, Atlanta

Farhad: YouTube’s own iPhone app does not let you download videos. But if you use one of the many websites that do let you save YouTube videos and then put those files on your iPhone, they will most likely play just fine.