Those in the know say Apple has decided which iOS update will include Siri's AI features
Apple reportedly has decided internally when Siri will receive its AI features.
Ever since Apple released some Apple Intelligence features in December with the release of iOS 18.2, we've been waiting for the new features that Apple had promoted for Siri at WWDC 2024. In September last year, right after the new iPhone 16 series was unveiled, Apple even created an ad showing how "Personal" Siri would work. A teen school girl sees this guy she met another time and wants to chat him up but can't remember his name.
She recalls that she met him at a cafe and asks Siri to refresh her memory and tell her the name of the boy she met at a cafe a few months ago. Siri goes through apps like Mail, Messages, Calendar, Files, Notes, and Photos to find the young lad's name. However, Apple was forced to pull the ad when it announced a delay in the release of Siri's AI features. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported today that internally, Apple has set a target of spring 2026 for the release of Siri's AI features.
More specifically, Apple is planning to include the AI-powered version of its Siri digital assistant with iOS 26.4 according to people familiar with the tech giant's plans. Part of the features coming to Siri include the ability to browse through the user's personal data to collect information as Apple originally showed in the now-pulled ad. Another example, one that Apple used at WWDC 2024, had an iPhone user ask Siri what time his mother's flight was going to arrive at the airport, and what time the dinner reservation was made for.
Another feature will allow Siri to know exactly what is on a user's iPhone screen. Siri is expected to also gain a new system called App Intents that will allow Siri to control apps across Apple devices. Examples would be requests for specific actions to be taken such as "Create a new note," "Start a workout," "Order coffee," "Play a specific playlist," "Find a trail," and "Set a reminder."
Apple iPhone users, especially those who have been critical of Siri as we have been at times, will have gone nearly two years from the time that the new features were announced in June 2024 at WWDC to the release, hopefully in April 2026, of these features. Siri was introduced with the iPhone 4s in 2011 and quickly went from smartphone marvel to also-ran as the assistant was topped by Google Assistant and Alexa.
Apple is hoping that this AI makeover will take Siri to the top again.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: