Here’s why you should never say 108 to Siri

All of us have resorted to Siri at one point or another for an array of different reasons, but there’s one thing that iPhone owners should never ask of the virtual assistant.

Apple‘s built-in assistant can be helpful with multiple things, providing iPhone users with useful, often random knowledge, calling their contacts or activate timers when they’ve got their hands full, or simply for a bit of fun.

Siri uses machine learning technologies for its speech recognition through the command ‘Hey Siri’ or ‘Siri’ and is known for its sassy comebacks or slightly alienating responses.

It has certainly had to reply to weird requests since it was first launched in 2011, though it seems there’s at least a specific command that people should never tell their Siris.

Back in 2017, some social media users encouraged people to say ‘108’ to their Siri, and it seems that some took the bait.

Your phone is always listening for you to say ‘Hey Siri’. (Yana Iskayeva/Getty Stock)

As it turns out, 108 is India’s emergency service and if you tell Siri that it will connect you to a 999-like helpline.

At the time, the idea of telling Siri the three numbers to have some fun became so popular that some people urged iPhone users to refrain from trying the jest for themselves.

Amongst the internet users concerned about emergency services being overflown with unnecessary calls was actor Devon Sawa, who took to X (back when it still was known solely as Twitter, sigh) to ask people to simply stop.

“Whatever you do, do NOT tell Siri ‘108,’” the Final Destination and Chucky star wrote in 2018.

While, of course, Sawa’s tweet prompted some followers to actually try the Siri hack for themselves and subsequently have to cancel a 999 call in panic mode, it encouraged others to read the comment section and learn what 108 actually means for Apple’s virtual assistant.

Needless to say, prank calls to emergency services are a waste of valuable resources and may take time away from other callers who are actually in need.

In other Apple news, the company recently apologised for a controversial ad promoting their new iPad Pro.

Apple is a tech giant in its own right but some fans have been scratching their head after seeing their new iPad advert. (TimCook/X)

The commercial, seeing different creative objects being smashed by an industrial crasher while the iPad remains intact, was seen by some as out of touch amidst the current debate over the use of AI in multiple fields and the possibility it would eventually replace human creativity.

“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it’s incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world,” the tech giant said in a statement issued last week.

“Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry.”

Topics: iPhone, Technology, Apple, Weird, Health