iOS 14 is undoubtedly one of the biggest updates to iOS over the years, and it’s been an absolute joy discovering all the new and bold changes it has. But the big and bold changes aren’t the only things that are a total delight this year

iOS 14 is also quite literally a trove of hidden delights. It’s been a few days since it came out, but everyone’s still having a field day customizing their iPhone. The combination of App Library, Home Screen Widgets, and customizable app icons have made it incredibly fun to experiment with the aesthetics of your iPhone. But it’s not the only experiment waiting for you in iOS 14. There are lots of additions to the automation section of the Shortcuts app as well.

And one of these new additions to automation lets you automate actions for when you connect (or disconnect, for that matter) your iPhone to the charger. You can even get Siri to announce anything you like. And if you, too, have always liked those pretty animations on some Android phones when they connect their phone to the charger and felt you were missing out, this lets you go a step further. So what are we waiting for? Let’s dive in and see how to do it!

How to Create the Charging Automation where Siri Talks

Open the ‘Shortcuts’ app on your iPhone.

Then, go to the ‘Automation’ tab from the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen.

If this is your first automation, simply tap on the ‘Create Personal Automation’ button.

But if you already have any automation on your phone, then tap on the ‘New Automation’ button (+ icon) on the upper right corner of the screen. And then select ‘Create Personal Automation’ from the next screen.

Scroll to the bottom in the list of automations, and tap on ‘Charger’.

To create automation for when you plug your phone into the charger, select ‘Is Connected’ from the screen and tap on ‘Next’. Select ‘Is Disconnected’ instead if you are creating the automation for when you unplug your phone.

Now, tap on ‘Add Action’ on the next screen.

Actions available to add to the automation will open. Search for ‘Speak Text’ to easily access the action and tap on it when it shows under Actions to select it.

The action will be selected. Then, tap the “Text” part that appears highlighted and type what you want Siri to say there. Afterward, tap on the ‘Show More’ option underneath it to configure the action further.

You can change the rate of speaking, pitch, language, and the voice that’ll say the text from this menu.

Tip: You can also further customize the automation to control Siri’s volume. Add a ‘Set Volume’ action before the Speak Text action to set the volume at which Siri should speak. You can also add a similar action after the speak text action to return the volume to a certain number. But remember, it’ll only work if the volume buttons on your iPhone change the media volume and not the system volume.

After adding all the actions, tap ‘Next’.

Example of additional volume control options added to the automation.

Now, this is the important bit. Turn off the toggle for ‘Ask Before Running’ so the automation can run without any hindrances. Otherwise, it’ll ask for your permission every time you plug in your charger, and that just defeats the whole point.

A confirmation dialog box will appear on the screen. Tap on the ‘Don’t Ask’ option to confirm your choice.

Then, tap ‘Done’ to save the automation.

Now, there’s nothing else left to do but plug your phone to the charger and sit back and enjoy what you’ve conjured.

iPhone users have waited a long time to be able to customize their phone however they want. Now that we finally have some options to do this, I can see why Android users were lamenting about the inability to do so; it’s certainly quite amusing!