iPhone 8 Could Let You Activate Siri via the Sleep/ Wake Button

As Apple is expected to do away with the physical Home button in its upcoming iPhone flagship, a developer has suggested that the Sleep/ Wake button in the soon-to-be-released device might activate Apple's digital assistant Siri.

In its iPhone models released till now, users could long press the iconic Home button to activate Siri. However, with the upcoming tenth anniversary iPhone rumoured to ditch the Home button, iOS developer Guilherme Rambo wondered if Apple moved any of the Home button's functionality to the "lock" button. He found that there is indeed a gesture to activate Siri by pressing the lock button, apart from using the traditional "Hey Siri" voice command, Macrumors reports.

Rambo's comments are based on a discovery that he has made in source code that points to the possibility, but it's still unclear as to the nature of the code he refers to. The Brazilian developer has previously found several details of upcoming Apple products in the company's beta software, including references to a 4K Apple TV in tvOS 11 as well as references in early HomePod firmware to some features widely expected in the company's upcoming OLED iPhone.

Last month, Brazilian blog iHelp BR discovered a line of code in the HomePod firmware that suggested the Sleep/ Wake button could in fact change functions on the OLED iPhone depending on the app currently in use. The line of code "lockButtonAppropriateForShutter" could be pointing to the native camera app and may indicate the presence of dual switches, the Macrumors report added.

Rambo also discovered two videos within the iOS 11 beta that may show the app switcher will work on the iPhone 8 without the standard home button. The first video indicates that tapping at the bottom and swiping up will open the app switcher, and you can remove or switch between apps from there. He has also shared a video showing how the lock screen appears by swiping from top to bottom, while the Control Centre now comes out with a swipe to the left. Whether these gestures are customisable or not remains to be seen.

Apple is set to launch the flagship iPhone 8 on September 12. The Cupertino giant is expected to release three new devices - iPhone 8 along with the updated versions of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus - that will be called iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus. However, recent report claim that the three new iPhones will be called iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone Edition - with the latter being the anniversary iPhone, which is expected to sport a virtually bezel-less redesign.

The event on September 12 is also expected to see a new Apple TV model with 4K and HDR support and an LTE-capable Apple Watch, based on past rumors.

Written with inputs from IANS