How to teach contact names and relationships to Siri and Google Now
All too often, though, both Siri (on iOS) and Google Now (on Android phones) will do a double-take, asking "Who's Dad" or "Which Ted did you mean"
Even worse, it might mistake "my dad" for another name in your contact book and start dialing--and at that point, you'll probably be wondering why you didn't skip the fancy voice commands and simply tap your way to your phone favorites.
With a little work on your part, you can teach Siri and Google Now the nicknames and relationships of the most important people in your life, from your loving spouse or parents to your closest (or most demanding) colleagues.
Once your iPhone or Android phone knows who your dad is--or that "Ted" means your boss, not Ted whatshisname--using voice commands for phone calls will feel a lot more magical.
For Android
Of the few different ways to add nicknames and relationships to contacts, the easiest is to simply tell Google Now via voice command.
Want to add relationships with a bit more precision, or want to give one of your contacts a nickname Try this:
Adding nicknames and relationships from your PC or Mac is easy, too.
For iOS
The easiest of several ways is this one:
Here's how to do the same thing using the iOS keypad:
If you use iCloud to store your contacts, you can edit your relationships, nicknames and phonetic name from a web browser.
Finally, Mac users can use the Mac's Contact app to add nicknames and relationships in pretty much the same way--assuming you're using iCloud to sync your contacts on your Mac, of course.