Open ChatGPT or another app by voice

A few weeks before Apple unveiled iOS 18 at WWDC 2024, the company announced a number of accessibility features coming to the iPhone with the new update.

Back then, I said that I hoped the new voice command feature in iOS 18 would help me launch the ChatGPT app by simply saying “ChatGPT” out loud. That’s like telling Siri to open ChatGPT without invoking Siri with the usual “Hey Siri” or “Siri” applications. Even better, if I say “GPT voice,” Siri will automatically launch GPT-4o voice chat with ChatGPT.

Now that I’ve installed iOS 18 Beta 1 on my iPhone 14 Pro, I can tell you that the Vocal Shortcuts feature is enabled. I used it to set up the voice shortcut above and it’s incredibly easy. You can use Vocal Shortcuts for the same purpose to open an app by voice, regardless of the app. It works with everything, not just ChatGPT.

Voice Commands also work with keyboard shortcuts you may have set up on iPhone. Additionally, Voice Commands lets you set up commands to control system elements like the camera, control center, flashlight, volume, and others. You can even take screenshots with a voice command. Likewise, you can use your voice to invoke other accessibility features. The setup process is similar.

How to set up a language shortcut for ChatGPT

Below, I’ll show you how I created a voice shortcut on the iPhone that lets you open the ChatGPT app by saying “ChatGPT.” The same process applies to any app, system feature, or accessibility feature that supports voice shortcuts.

First go to Settings App, tap Accessibility, and look for the Vocal abbreviations feature. Make sure it is enabled.

After that, you want to start setting up the language shortcuts.

Beat Keep going and select Siri requests from the menu displayed.

Next, you will see a blank field where you need to type a specific Siri request. In my case, I wrote “open chatgpt” and this is the voice command that Siri will execute after I set up the voice shortcut.

The next step is to set up a custom phrase. As explained on the screen, this is a pronounceable phrase that is unique to this action.

Here, too, you have to enter the action. For ChatGPT, I wrote “chatgpt”.

The final step was to say “chatgpt” three times so my iPhone could recognize the phrase.

When you’re done, the iPhone tells you the action is ready and confirms what it’s doing: “The iPhone is waiting for ‘chatgpt’ and will perform the action: open chatgpt.”

Beat Keep going if you don’t want to add any more language shortcuts. You can add more if needed.

Go back to the Voice Commands menu in the Settings app. You’ll see all your voice commands there. You can remove the ones you don’t need and add others.

As you can see above, I just added a simple voice button. But I might make the button a little more complex so that I don’t accidentally trigger it when I say “ChatGPT” in real conversations.

I would also like to point out that you can set language shortcuts for many system apps and systems. See the screenshot below.

How it works

Interestingly, you can also say your voice command when the iPhone is locked and Siri will execute it, assuming Face ID can authenticate you. I used the “ChatGPT” command this way and it “just worked”. If Face ID can’t perform a scan, Siri will tell you that you need to unlock the iPhone first.

When you say the voice shortcut, iOS 18 displays it at the top of the iPhone, giving you a visual cue of what’s happening. An on-screen overlay appears at the top of the display, listing the Siri action and the voice shortcut you used to open an app or perform a task with Siri.

It gets even better: I can trigger GPT-4o voice with Siri

I thought there was no way to trigger GPT-4o’s voice function via Vocal Shortcuts. This is actually what I expect from Vocal Shortcuts. After the Apple Intelligence demo, I know that Siri will not be able to control app functions until Apple Intelligence is introduced. Even then, Siri will need app developers like OpenAI to use Apple Intelligence APIs to be able to control apps.

If that happens, I may be able to set up a voice shortcut that allows Siri to open ChatGPT And Enable the chatbot’s voice feature so I can dictate prompts directly to ChatGPT.

I don’t have to wait, though. iOS 18 Beta 1 has everything I need. Head to the Shortcuts app and you’ll find that ChatGPT lets you set up a shortcut to invoke the GPT-4o voice.

Tap the I so that Siri has access to the ChatGPT shortcuts. Then go to the Voice Shortcuts menu where you create a voice shortcut to trigger the GTP-4o voice shortcut.

That’s exactly what I did. I paired a voice shortcut “gpt voice” with the voice shortcut GPT-4o. Now when I say “gpt voice”, Siri opens ChatGPT And Start a voice conversation for me with ChatGPT. I just need to talk to GPT-4o.

You can apply the same process to any shortcut you create using the Shortcuts app.