Siri voice technology cracked to run on Android

by Steven Mostyn - Nov 18 2011, 08:10

The apparent exclusivity of the iPhone’s new Siri technology has been shattered this week following news that the voice recognition platform has been cracked to run on other mobile phones, such as those powered by Google Android.

The exploit in question—which enables other devices to access Siri—was initially uncovered by French software company Applidium, which reverse-engineered the protocol utilized by Siri whenever users send instructions and questions to Apple's servers.

According to a report in The Telegraph, Applidium accomplished the crack by intercepting and deciphering encrypted data via the use of forged security certificates.

Although the prospect of using Siri to issue voice commands may seem tempting, successfully accessing the platform may be more difficult than you’d imagine—not least because any third-party app looking to tap into the service will need to mimic the unique key assigned to individual iPhone 4S handsets.

The Telegraph warns that this will prompt a quick response from Apple given that apps trying to piggyback Siri will probably depend on a single key across all users.

Seemingly undeterred, Applidium has openly published the hack’s software code online for those wishing to use Siri from their computers.

It has also said individuals wanting to bring Siri to their mobile device(s) can do so by “using the tools we’ve written” to retrieve a necessary iPhone 4S identification key.

Enjoy it while you can, kids, because we fully expect Apple to close this particular loophole very quickly.

If you'd like to explore another possible 'voice recognition' platform that hasn't (yet) attracted the attention of Apple, allow us to point you in the direction of IRIS by Dexectra.

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