Apple iPhone users have been eagerly awaiting the release of the revised version of Siri. Whether you call it Personal Siri or AI Siri, Apple gave us a look at what Siiri is expected to do as early as September 2024 when it released an ad starring British actress Bella Ramsey. The ad showed Ramsey spotting some boy coming toward her and she can't remember his name. So, she asks Siri to give her the name of the person she met at a particular restaurant during the previous month. Siri comes back and tells her that she met Zac Wingate at Cafe Grenel on July 3rd. Crisis ends.
The new and improved Siri is supposed to arrive with iOS 26.4
To get that information, Siri goes through some of your apps perusing your email, calendar entries, and messages to find the correct response. But to iPhone fans' dismay, last March Apple delayed indefinitely the release of the new and improved Siri. We now expect to see Apple start to release a revamped Siri with iOS 26.4, expected this coming March. But you might not have to wait until March to see some of the changes to Siri on your iPhone.
Will you install iOS 26.4 Beta 1 to get an early look at the new Siri?
Of course I will. I hope to see the revamped Siri.
55.56%
No. I don't like Beta software and I'd rather wait.
44.44%
I don't own an iPhone.
0%
If you are subscribed to the Apple Beta Software Program for iOS 26, by the end of this month, after stable iOS 26 rolls out, you should be able to install iOS 26.4 Beta 1, which could include some of the changes we expect to see in Siri. These improvements will allow Siri to understand what is on your iPhone screen, so you won't have to reveal every detail of a task or query you have for Siri to respond to. For example, if you have an address on your iPhone's display you could ask Siri to add the address to someone listed in your Contacts app.
Gemini used as an assistant on the Pixel 6 Pro. | Image credit-PhoneArena
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Siri will also be able to get certain tasks done in various apps. For example, you could ask Siri to "Find the photo I took at the beach yesterday and send it to Suzanne." Similar to the first example we gave you about the girl who couldn't remember the name of the boy she shared a meal with a couple of months before, you'll be able to ask Siri what time your mother's plane is landing, and Siri will scour your Mail and Messages apps to find the answers.
What we expect the revamped Siri to do in iOS 26.4
Just to be clear, if you never messaged someone about your mom's flight, or discussed it in an email, or referred to it in your Calendar app, Siri is going to draw a blank when you ask what time your mother's plane is scheduled to land.
Additionally, iOS 26.4 will start the process of turning Siri into a Large Language Model (LLM). Instead of responding to general knowledge queries with links, Siri will reportedly feature a web-powered answer engine that will allow it to deliver summarized responses to general knowledge questions. This is what Gemini and ChatGPT do currently.
If the expectations meet reality, when iOS 26.4 is pushed out in March, Siri will be able to:
Understand how humans talk to each other.
With permission, browse through personal data to give valid answers to certain questions.
Understand the context of what is own an iPhone's display and use this knowledge to act across different apps.
Answer queries and search requests with deeper and more intelligent responses.
Handle more complex tasks that the current version of Siri could not respond to.
Apple must leave us a good faith deposit in iOS 26.4
Over the years, I've had the opportunity to use Siri, Google Assistant, and now Gemini as full-fledged assistants on my phones. Siri was so bad that for anything other than setting alarms and timers, I used the Google Assistant iOS app and now use ChatGPT, Gemini, or the Copilot apps. On my Pixel 6 Pro, Google gave ne the option to replace Google Assistant with Gemini, which I have done. Gemini not only sets timers and alarms, it responds to your questions with in-depth answers.
I might be in the minority here, but despite the occasional hallucination, I find using AI as an assistant to be much more fulfilling. Apple needs to take Siri's capabilities to the level of the big LLM names. It won't happen right away with iOS 26.4, but Apple must leave us a good faith deposit with that update.
Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
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