Your days as an ordinary Muggle are over — as long as you have an iPhone. With just a word or two, you can use your iPhone and newfound Muggle-born powers to cast spells or utilize charms just like Harry Potter and team. Only your “wand”is from Apple, not Ollivanders in Diagon Alley.
Whether you’re a Muggle-born witch or wizard, there are at least three spells built into Hey Siri that you can conjure up on your iPhone. But there are more incantations from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter that you can program Siri to use — and the possibilities are endless, limited only by your imagination.
Siri Tips
- The voice phrase to trigger Siri on iOS 16 and earlier is “Hey Siri.”It also works on iOS 17, but you can use just “Siri”as well if your settings are correct. So if you’re using iOS 17, feel free to swap out “Hey Siri”with “Siri”in the list of spells below.
To ensure voice activation is enabled, go to Settings –> Siri & Search, then:
- Toggle on the Listen for “Hey Siri” switch. On iOS 17, open the “Listen for”menu, then choose “Siri”or “Hey Siri” or just the solo “Hey Siri” option.
- Toggle on Allow Siri When Locked so that some commands work from a locked lock screen.
- Toggle on Press Side [or Home] Button for Siri so you can use the long-press shortcut instead of the voice activation phrase. On older iOS versions, the Side/Home button shortcut may not work with the three built-in Siri commands but should with the ones you build. This isn’t an issue with newer iOS versions.
To further customize Siri, go to Settings –> Accessibility –> Siri, then:
- Toggle on the Type to Siri switch if you’d like to change the long-press Side/Home button shortcut to open a keyboard you can use to type commands instead of speaking all the spellwork. On older iOS versions, the Side/Home button shortcut may not work with the three built-in Siri commands but should with the ones you build. This isn’t an issue with newer iOS versions.
- Toggle on Always Listen for “Hey Siri” so the spells work when commanding “Hey Siri”or “Siri”(the latter being on iOS 17 only) when your iPhone is face down or covered.
Jump to a Spell
- Lumos
- Nox
- Accio
- Lumos Maxima
- Silencio
- Muffliato
- Sonorus
- Quietus
- Homenum Revelio
- Point Me
- Sternius
- Vermillious (Or Periculum)
- Vermillious Duo
- Vermillious Tria
- Reducio
- Engorgio
1. Hey Siri, Lumos
“Lumos”is the wand-lighting charm. It will illuminate the tip of the caster’s wand so that they can see in the dark. Here, the end of the wand is your iPhone’s rear flash. So saying “Hey Siri, Lumos”will turn on your flashlight (aka torch). Unfortunately, “Lumos Maxima”does not work with Hey Siri, so you can’t use that spell to turn your flashlight on full power unless you build the spell yourself (see #4 below).
- Spell: Hey Siri, Lumos
- Pronunciation: /loo · mows/
- Example: Harry saying “Lumos” in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”(2009)
2. Hey Siri, Nox
“Nox”is the wand-extinguishing charm, the counter-charm to “Lumos.”It will extinguish the light from the wand’s tip, or in our case, the flashlight/torch. Say “Hey Siri, Nox”whenever you want to turn off the light.
- Spell: Hey Siri, Nox
- Pronunciation: /näks/ /noks/ /naaks/ /knocks/
- Example: Harry saying “Nox” in “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”(2004)
3. Hey Siri, Accio
“Accio”is the summoning charm, which commands an object toward the person casting the spell. In this case, the thing is an app, so the incantation would be “Hey Siri, Accio [App Name].”That will open the app automatically if your iPhone is unlocked already. If not, you’ll need to use Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode to access the app.
- Spell: Hey Siri, Accio [App Name]
- Pronunciation: /Ack · ee · oh/
- Example: Hermione saying “Accio Horcrux” in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2″(2011); Harry saying “Accio Firebolt” in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”(2005)
However, you don’t need a spell to open an app using Siri. You can just as easily say, “Hey Siri, [App Name],”and it will open the app just the same.
Creating Spells and Charms Shortcuts to Use with Siri
The above spells are built-in to Hey Siri, and asking it to perform any other Harry Potter spells will likely only give you information cards about what each spell means, as described by the source Siri chooses.
However, you can also make the assistant work with other spells. All you need is the Shortcuts app. You just create a new shortcut, add the action or actions required to perform the spell or charm, then save it as the spell or charm’s incantation.
If you don’t want to use Siri to conjure up your magic, there’s also Voice Control. With it on, your mic is always listening, and you can build a custom gesture triggered by the spell name to open the shortcut. There’s also Back Tap, which lets you tap the back of your iPhone two or three times to trigger whatever shortcut you want, but that kind of takes the fun away from saying spells.
4. Hey Siri, Lumos Maxima
“Lumos Maxima”is similar to the wand-lighting charm “Lumos,”only it produces a blinding flash of light from the tip of a wand. On your iPhone, you can set it up to turn your flashlight (or torch) on full brightness.
- Add the “Set Flashlight”action, set it to turn “On,”and max out the “Brightness”slider. [download shortcut]
If you have smart lights at home, you could also use the command to turn those on to full brightness.
5. Hey Siri, Silencio
“Silencio”is the silencing charm, which can make something silent. That something can be your iPhone. While it’s Spanish for “silence,”saying “Hey Siri, Silence”will only turn off all your alarms. But it makes more sense to turn on Do Not Disturb instead.
- Add the “Set Focus”action, set it to turn “On”the “Do Not Disturb”mode until “Turned Off.”[download shortcut]
6. Hey Siri, Muffliato
“Muffliato”is the muffling charm that keeps other muggles, witches, and wizards from hearing your conversation. It does so by making them hear a buzzing sound, similar to persistent tinnitus. On your iPhone, you could use it to turn the volume down to a more private level while also activating Background Sounds to muffle whatever else is happening on your iPhone that you don’t want nearby people to hear.
- Add the “Set Volume”action and change it to a low amount. [download shortcut] Or…
- Add the “Set Volume”action, set it to “50%.”Add the “Set Background Sound”action, set it to turn “On.”Add the “Change Background Sound”action, set it to “Balanced Noise”(or whatever sound you want). Add the “Set Background Sounds Volume”action, set it to a low amount, like “10%.”[download shortcut]
7. Hey Siri, Sonorus
“Sonorus”is the amplifying charm, which makes whatever the target sound is louder, like a person’s voice. You can simply set it to max out the volume on your iPhone.
- Add the “Set Volume”action, set it to “100%.”[download shortcut]
If you have an Apple TV, you can also disable reduce loud sounds during playback.
- Add the “Set Reduce Loud Sounds”action, and ensure it’s set to “Off.”Tap “Apple TV”to select a specific Apple TV or choose “Ask Each Time.”download shortcut
8. Hey Siri, Quietus
“Quietus”is the counter-charm to the amplifying charm, so it does the opposite by returning the volume level to what it was before. You can make it use the volume you most likely use on your iPhone or just mid-level volume at 50 percent.
- Add the “Set Volume”action, set it to “50%”(or whatever is comfortable). [download shortcut]
If you want to get crazy, you can add a way to record the current volume level in the “Sonorus”command before changing the volume to 100%. Then, in the “Quietus”command, you can add a way to recall the recording volume level before setting it to that.
If you have an Apple TV, you can also reduce loud sounds during playback. (This may also work for another spell, as seen in #15 below.)
- Add the “Set Reduce Loud Sounds”action, and ensure it’s set to “On.”Tap “Apple TV”to select a specific Apple TV or choose “Ask Each Time.”download shortcut
9. Hey Siri, Homenum Revelio
“Homenum Revelio”is the human-presence-revealing spell that lets the caster know who’s nearby. To use it on your iPhone, make it open to the “People”tab in the Find My app. Before iOS 13, it would have been the Find My Friends app. (Note that these URL schemes may not work correctly on some iOS versions. If they don’t open the “People”tab in the Find My app, they will at least open the Find My app, and you can tap “People”manually.)
- Add the “Open URLs”action, set the URL to “findmyfriends://“or “fmf1://“scheme. [download shortcut] Or…
- Add the “URL”action and set it to the “findmyfriends://“or “fmf1://“scheme. Add the “Open URLs”action. [download shortcut]
10. Hey Siri, Point Me
“Point Me”is the (least interesting) spell that points the caster’s wand north. For your iPhone, it could simply be opening the Compass app.
- Add the “Open App”action and choose “Compass”as the app. [download shortcut]
11. Hey Siri, Sternius
“Sternius”is the spell that makes the target sneeze for a short period. It’s more fun than useful on an iPhone, where you make your iPhone start sneezing.
- Add the “File”action and select an audio file of someone sneezing. Add the “Play Sound”action. [download shortcut]
12. Hey Siri, Vermillious (Or Periculum)
“Vermillious”is the equivalent of a Muggle flare shot up into the sky to signal that you need help. The caster’s wand would shoot red sparks up into the air to get the attention of others. In the films, Harry Potter uses “Periculum”instead. On an iPhone, you could use it to send an SOS text with your current location to your emergency contacts.
This can already be done using Apple’s Emergency SOS feature, which sends texts with your current location to each emergency contact, but it also calls 911. If you don’t need emergency services but would still like your emergency contact to know your current location, set up the “In Case of Emergency“shortcut.
- Add the “In Case of Emergency“shortcut from the Shortcuts Gallery and configure it. Delete unnecessary actions.
There’s more to it than just sending your current location via text, but you can delete the other actions from the shortcut to keep it simple. Make sure to rename the shortcut “Vermillious”or “Periculum.”Alternatively, you can build the shortcut from scratch with:
- Add the “Contacts”action and choose your contacts. Add the “Get Current Location”action. Add the “Text”action and type the SOS message you want to send. Add the “Send Message”action, then use the Text and Current Location variables in the message with any other text you want to add; you can format it like “[Text] I’m located at [Street] [City] [State] [ZIP Code].”Lastly, choose to send it to the Contacts variable. [download shortcut]
13. Hey Siri, Vermillious Duo
“Vermillious Duo”(where “Duo”means two) is a stronger version of “Vermillious,”so you can make a “Vermillious”shortcut for one contact, then use “Vermillious Duo”for multiple contacts. It’s the same build as above with just additional targets.
- Use spell 12’s shortcut, just add more contacts. [download shortcut]
14. Hey Siri, Vermillious Tria
You can probably guess what this means. “Vermillious Tria”is even more powerful than “Vermillious Duo,”so you make another “Vermillious”shortcut as seen in spell 12’s shortcut above, but add an entire group of contacts instead.
However, with “Tria”meaning three, it might make more sense to use the “In Case of Emergency“shortcut from spell 12 and configure it without deleting anything. First, it will send your current location to your chosen emergency contacts. Second, it will send additional instructions to key contacts. Third, it will show a message on the screen for first responders to find.
- Add the “In Case of Emergency“shortcut from the Shortcuts Gallery and configure it.
15. Hey Siri, Reducio
“Reducio”is a shrinking charm that does just what it sounds like: reduces the size of an object. The most straightforward use for it on your iPhone is to reduce the text size on the display.
- Add the “Set Text Size”action, set the size to Extra Small, Small, or another option smaller than your normally preferred text size. [download shortcut]
You could also try using it as a charm to reduce the file size of the current image you’re viewing.
- Add the “Resize Image”action, tap “Image”in its action box, choose “Shortcut Input,”tap “Nowhere”on the input section, and toggle “Receive What’s On Screen“on. Then, choose the size in the Resize Image action box, which defaults to 640 pixels wide. Last, add the “Save to Photo Album”action and select an album. [download shortcut]
If you have an Apple TV, you can also reduce loud sounds during playback. Sound isn’t an “object”per se, but it fits the “Reducio”command well.
- Add the “Set Reduce Loud Sounds”action, and ensure it’s set to “On.”Tap “Apple TV”to select a specific Apple TV or choose “Ask Each Time.”download shortcut
On iOS 16 and later, you could do something similar with PDFs.
- Add the “Optimize File Size of PDF”action, long-press “Document”in its action box, choose “Shortcut Input,”tap “Nowhere”on the input section, and toggle on “Receive What’s On Screen.”Then, add the “Save File”action, tap the drop-down arrow in its action box, and pick whether to ask where to save or choose a directory. If wanted, you can also toggle on “Overwrite If File Exists.”[download shortcut]
16. Hey Siri, Engorgio
“Reducio”has a counter-charm called “Engorgio”that has the opposite reaction: it returns things to their normal size or causes something to swell. On your iPhone, you can use it to reverse what you did with the Reducio command, though it only makes sense with the text size change. Increasing the size of a reduced image will cause pixelation, and you can’t really un-optimize a PDF.
- Add the “Set Text Size”action, and set the size to your normally preferred text size. [download shortcut]
Still, it could be helpful to upscale a photo if it’s too small for what you need, like if a server won’t accept the file because it’s too small.
- Add the “Resize Image”action, tap “Image”in its action box, choose “Shortcut Input,”tap “Nowhere”on the input section, and toggle “Receive What’s On Screen“on. Then, choose the size in the Resize Image action box, which defaults to 640 pixels wide. Last, add the “Save to Photo Album”action and select an album. [download shortcut]
