The Wizarding World continues to thrive with Fantastic Beasts and the hotly anticipated Hogwarts Legacy. For those who didn’t receive a Hogwarts acceptance letter, however, all we can do is watch Harry Potter cast a plethora of spells. Unless you have an iPhone, that is.
iPhone users looking to perform an incantation or two can ask Siri to cast a series of spells, effectively turning their smartphone into a wand — no trip to Ollivanders wand shop needed. Apple includes three built-in spells, but more enchantments can be added thanks to the Shortcuts app. Find out how to turn your iPhone into a wand and cast spells from Harry Potter.
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How to cast spells on iPhone
As detailed by Gadget Hacks (via BGR), all you have to do is make sure the Hey Siri function is active on your iPhone, and then say “Hey Siri” followed by the name of the spell. From there, the iPhone will work its magic.
To enable the Hey Siri feature:
- Head into your iPhone’s Settings app
- Navigate to “Siri Search”
- Switch on “Listen for ‘Hey Siri'” along with “Allow Siri When Locked.”
Apple has included three spells as voice commands that you can try out. Here’s how to activate them:
- Say “Hey Siri, Lumos (loo-mos)” to turn on your iPhone’s rear flashlight. It’s a wand-lighting charm that illuminates the tip of the caster’s wand, making it a fitting spell to turn on your iPhone’s flashlight.
- Say “Hey Siri, Nox (nokss)” to turn off your iPhone’s rear flashlight. It’s the counter-charm to Lumos spell.
- Say “Hey Siri, Accio (ah-kee-oh)” followed by the name of an app to open it. This is a summoning charm to bring an object towards the caster, but this version simply opens apps. For example, “Hey Siri, Accio WhatsApp.”
The Accio spell can be a tad tricky, as your iPhone may search for “Axel” or “Accio” within the app instead of opening it. Plus, you can also just say “Hey Siri, [App Name]” to open an app.
As pointed out by Gadget Hacks, you can also create your own spells to activate features on your iPhone by heading to the Shortcuts app. To do this, head over to the Shortcuts app, and in the “My Shortcuts” tab, tap the plus icon at the top right to craft a new shortcut. Name the shortcut and select “Add action.”
You can include a number of different spells that can act as a handy shortcut, including the silencing charm Silencio (si-len-see-oh) to put your phone on silent mode, amplifying charm Sonorus (soh-nohr-us) to boost the volume to max, and more.
It’s a nifty trick for any Muggle looking to try out a few spells. For more hidden iPhone tricks, check out how your iPhone can secretly listen to conversations with AirPods and your iPhone’s secret rain map.