Apple's long-suffering Siri upgrade seems to be edging closer to that promised spring 2026 launch date. According to a new report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple is making progress, but there's still some concern inside the company.
Gurman claims that Apple is preparing an "overhauled" Siri to debut alongside its App Intents feature that will allow it to take actions on the user's behalf. For example, Siri will be able to read your weather app, notice it's going to rain and put a reminder in your reminders app to grab a jacket before you head out the door to your next appointment.
These were all promises made back at WWDC 2024 when Apple first revealed its plans for a Siri upgraded through Apple Intelligence. Since then, it's been a whole lot of nothing, and, according to Gurman, that's because making App Intents play nice with other software is the sticking point.
"Engineers have been struggling to ensure that the system works with a sufficient number of apps and is accurate enough to handle high-stakes scenarios," Gurman wrote (via 9to5Mac).
"There are worries about the software failing in categories where precision is nonnegotiable, like in health or banking apps."
Apple is reportedly working with a number of companies to test the integration before it starts rolling it out to beta testers. These features were initially planned to launch with iOS 18, although Gurman believes they will land somewhere around the iOS 26.4 update.
Not so Siri-ous
According to Gurman, Apple wants to ship App Intents "alongside a broader Siri infrastructure overhaul in the spring and market it heavily."
However, due to those concerns around the importance of App Intents not failing on something like health or financial assistance, we may not get the feature in full at launch.
Apple is reportedly considering "sharply limiting" what Siri will be able to do with sensitive categories. Therefore, even if a smarter, more robust Siri appears in 2026, it could still find itself hamstrung when compared to rivals.
In 2024, Tim Cook laid out what set Apple's AI plans apart: “Our unique approach combines generative AI with a user’s personal context to deliver truly helpful intelligence." Which sounds a lot like what ChatGPT Agent is already able to accomplish for you right now in 2025.
Here are a few other examples of what it'll be able to do:
- Siri could activate your bus ticket in a transit app once you’ve arrived at your usual pickup location.
- Acting as a watchful eye on HomeKit enabled security cameras to notify you about emergencies and possible intrusions.
- Knowing where to pick up where you left off watching a movie on your iPhone, then proceeding to play it on your Apple TV.
Is Apple too late to the AI game to make a difference? Or will iPhone owners using ChatGPT or Gemini be happy to switch to Siri 2.0 when it does appear next spring? Let us know in the comments below.
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