You can use Siri to control your VCR and the 1980s would be so happy

How to set up 'Hey Siri' on iPhone or iPad (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

Someone took a VCR and made it work with Siri.
The wholet hing was made possible using Shortcuts and an IR blaster.
This probably isn't what Siri's creators had in mind when they came up with it.

Siri can be pretty bad sometimes, but when it's great, it's great. Like when it's being used to control a VCR, for example.

Wait. What?

If you're a long-time iMore reader you'll no doubt be familiar with the Will it Work? YouTube channel. I've shared some of Nile's videos before because they all do something cool — take two bits of technology that were never supposed to work together, and force them to. Like making Siri talk to a VCR, for example.

It doesn't matter how many times I write that — it just seems wrong.

Check out the video to see how Niles made this unholy marriage of modern HomePod mini and 1980s mediocrity work together.

Pretty cool, right? Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to eBay to find myself a VCR. I think we can all agree that the best iPhone is an iPhone that can make old Police Academy videos play, right?

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.