Hey Siri, take a selfie. No, selfie!

Some of you will quickly determine this is the dumbest thing you've read on the internet this week. Others will find it so totes important it's ridic. I make no judgements either way. I just call your attention to it: Siri, Apple's virtual personal assistant, as currently implemented, can't take a selfie.

I'll pause while you collect yourself... Okay, onward. You can tell Siri to take a selfie, and Siri will respond by launching the built in Camera app... but that's it. Siri won't switch to the front FaceTime camera. It'll just stay on the rear iSight camera. That's fine for an elsie, but not for a selfie.

The 3D Touch home screen shortcut for "Selfie" on the iPhones 6 can, in fact, launch straight into the FaceTime camera. That makes it seem like it should be possible for Siri to do the same. Since Siri takes the command, it's even fair to assume Siri should do the same.

Since it currently can't, though, there are a few alternatives.

  • If you have one of the iPhones 6s, you can use the aforementioned 3D Touch home screen shortcut.
  • If you want to stick with Siri, once the iSight camera launches, you can tap the camera switcher button to toggle to the FaceTime camera.
  • Or you can launch the Camera app normally, switch normally, and get on with your selfie business.

Again, this may not matter to you in the least, or it may be something you really, really want. Either way, Apple has shown a remarkable ability to update Siri-as-a-service when and as needed.

So hopefully this is something the team can knock out sooner rather than later.

We've filed this bug report with Apple: rdar://25669185. Yes, seriously.

Rene Ritchie
Contributor

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.