Use Siri with BrightMind

Say Hey Siri, capture in BrightMind. Siri asks “What should I capture?” and then — this is the part that makes it the most powerful phrase — everything you say is sent word for word. Not a parsed fragment, not just the first task: the whole dictation. BrightMind reads it the way it reads a chat message and handles each thing it finds.

That means one capture can do several things at once:

• buy milk tomorrow, and move my dentist appointment to Friday — a task and a calendar change.
• add finish the report to my Work project, high priority, due Thursday— projects, priorities, and dates in plain speech — and here “project” is fine, because BrightMind does the understanding, not Siri.
• the garage code is 4421— not actionable, so it’s kept as a note.

Everything lands in a single pinned Captureconversation, so your captures stay together and BrightMind has the context of what you’ve sent before. It works from the Lock Screen, AirPods, and CarPlay with nothing extra to set up — and on Apple Watch once the shortcut is installed. Every capture comes back as a notification carrying BrightMind’s confirmation — for example “Added ‘buy milk’ for tomorrow and moved your dentist appointment”. Tapping it opens the Capture conversation. If something can’t be processed, the notification says so, and nothing is lost — the capture is still there in the conversation.

When should you use Add…instead? Only when it’s one simple task and you want to skip Siri’s follow-up question. For everything else — several items, notes, nuance, your own wording — capture is the one to reach for.

Say Hey Siri, talk to BrightMindto start a voice call. This is the one to reach for when you want to actually think out loud — plan a messy day, talk through what to do next, or just get unstuck — rather than fire off a single item. The call runs hands-free, so it works from the Lock Screen, AirPods, and CarPlay.

For recurring check-ins that BrightMind starts on a schedule, see Scheduled calls.

Say Hey Siri, dictate to BrightMindto jump straight into the app with dictation already listening — your words become a regular chat message. Unlike capture, which works in the background and confirms with a notification, this one is for when you want the conversation on screen: you see BrightMind’s reply as it streams in and can keep going from there.

Since it opens the app, it expects the phone in your hand. The same dictation is also one tap away as a BrightMind control in Control Center on iOS 18 and later.

Say Hey Siri, add… in BrightMindto add a task in a single breath — no follow-up question, no app to open. Siri hands BrightMind exactly what you said and it lands in your active task manager. A notification confirms what was added.

Phrase patterns Siri handles well:

• Hey Siri, add buy milk in BrightMind
• Hey Siri, add a task named call the dentist in BrightMind
• Hey Siri, add buy milk to my Groceries list in BrightMind
• Hey Siri, add submit the report at Friday at 4 PM in BrightMind

A few things worth knowing. Start with “add”, not “remind me” — Siri sends “remind me” to Apple’s own Reminders app no matter which app you name. Siri also speaks its own vocabulary: it understands “list”, not “project” — so say “to my Work list” even though BrightMind files it into the matching project. Dates and times come through as structured due dates when you use the at [date] at [time]shape. Siri shows only the task title on its confirmation card, but the list and date still come through — the BrightMind notification confirms the full result. This phrase is iPhone-only — it isn’t available on Apple Watch (use the watch shortcut there).

If Siri answers with something else (or sends you to Reminders), check these once:

• In BrightMind, turn on Add with Siri in Settings → Siri & Shortcuts, and allow Siri access when iOS asks.
• On iOS 18 and later, open Settings → Apple Intelligence & Siri → Apps → BrightMind and turn on Use with Siri Requests. On earlier iOS, it’s Settings → Siri & Search → BrightMind → Use with Ask Siri.
• End the phrase with “in BrightMind”— without the app name Siri assumes Apple Reminders.

Capture works from your wrist too, with a one-time setup. The watch runs a small Shortcut that you install once and point at your personal capture link.

• In the BrightMind app, open Settings → Siri & Shortcuts and turn on capture by voice.
• Copy your personal capture link from the Apple Watch shortcut screen.
• Tap Get the Shortcut to open the BrightMind Capture shortcut in the Shortcuts app.
• Paste your capture link into the shortcut’s Text box when it asks for it.

That’s the whole setup. After that, from your wrist you can say:

• Hey Siri, BrightMind Capture

Siri prompts for the text, you dictate it, and the confirmation notification arrives on your watch automatically.