Siri rumored to return to "her" roots in iOS 27
Siri started as a third party app in the App Store until Apple purchased the company in April 2010.
Siri 2.0 rumored to have a standalone app. | Image by Apple
Is it strange that I refer to Siri as a female? After all, the digital assistant's voice can be changed from the female tone we heard from the moment Siri was introduced along with the iPhone 4S on October 4, 2011, to a male voice. Even stranger was how Apple let this early lead slip away so fast. Soon, Google Assistant was the top digital assistant and Siri slipped to third after the aforementioned Google Assistant and Amazon's Alexa.
We could see Personal Siri as soon as June 8th when iOS 27 Beta 1 should drop
But that era seems so old now. AI chatbots like Google's Gemini and OpenAI's ChatGPT can seemingly answer any question with an in-depth response. Aside from an occasional hallucination, these AI Large Language Models (LLM) are absolutely amazing. Maybe you don't need to know how much a $1,000 investment in Apple on the morning the iPhone was unveiled is now worth ($2.35 million), but isn't it great to know that you can get this answer quickly?
Siri has not been able to keep up with AI chatbots, but this is going to change as soon as June 8th, which is when we expect Apple to drop the first iOS 27 Beta. As we mentioned the other day, with iOS 27 Siri is supposed to get a new brain in the form of a custom 1.2 trillion parameter Gemini AI Large Language Model (LLM).
Siri 2.0 is rumored to feature its own standalone app
According to a fresh report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple will release a standalone app for Siri that will be available for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac later this year. With a codename of Campo, the standalone Siri app will allow users to quickly re-enter previous conversations, which will be listed in the app. This is what ChatGPT and users of other AI apps can do. The Siri app will also allow users to switch between using a typed input or a spoken input.
The overall look of the UI will resemble the Messages app with a text box and bubbles. Siri will also gain contextual awareness in iOS 27 allowing the "assistant" to handle tasks inside other apps. An iPhone user, for example, could choose an image from the Photos app and tell Siri "Make this picture lighter and email it to Uncle Albert."
PhoneArena headline from the day Apple unveiled Siri. | Image by PhoneArena
When Siri has a task it is working on, the Siri icon will appear on the Dynamic Island screen with a "Searching" indicator.
The release of iOS 26.5 Beta 1 with Personal Siri could happen at any time
We could see Siri gain some new features very soon with the expected release of iOS 26.5 Beta 1, which could be released at any time. This version of Siri will be able to go into your Photos, Mail, Messages, Calendar apps to answer questions such as, "What time am I supposed to pick up my Mom from the airport?" Personal Siri, or Siri 2.0, has become the longest running Apple vaporware ever. Now at 652 days since being introduced during the opening of WWDC 24 on June 10, 2024, Personal Siri has topped the previous record of 563 days. That record was held by the AirPower wireless charger.
If Siri does get a standalone app in iOS 27, it will take the digital helper back to her early days as a third party app that was listed in the App Store in 2010. The app was to be released for iOS, Android and BlackBerry when Apple decided to purchase Siri Inc. in April 2010. Apple's CEO at the time, the late Steve Jobs, was said to be heavily involved in the acquisition of Siri and reportedly was working on Siri's future with Apple devices when he passed away the day after Siri was unveiled.
To be clear, Siri is not returning to the App Store as a third party app. But if this rumor turns out to be legit, Siri is coming back to the App Store.
Follow us on Google News
Things that are NOT allowed:
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: