Hot off the heels of the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts reunion special, released on HBO Max on Jan. 1, Harry Potter fans have discovered a hilarious iPhone trick allowing you to use popular Harry Potter spells as “controls” for certain iPhone functions. Specifically, after saying “Hey Siri,” iPhone users have gleefully told Siri “Lumos” and “Nox,” discovering that these spoken commands turn on and off your iPhone’s flashlight, respectively. Fans of the series will remember the spell “lumos” causes a wizard’s wand to emit light from its tip, while “nox” turns the light off. (After testing these capabilities for myself, however, it seems like the “nox” function may be a little difficult, depending on your accent.)
Turns out, this special Harry Potter spell function isn’t just available to iPhone users; Android customers can utilise the same commands with Google Assistant. Even more, using your iPhone’s Shortcuts app, you can program Siri to respond to even more Harry Potter spells by pairing your spell of choice with a certain action. For example, you could theoretically program a shortcut that turns your phone off when you say, “Avada Kedavra.”
Regardless of the fact the series is over, the magic clearly lives on in other ways. May you never be left in the dark, so long as you have your phone by your side.
