iOS 27 Siri: All the New Features and Changes Coming

Apple first teased a smarter, more capable version of Siri back at the 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference. Originally slated for an iOS 18 debut, the underlying architecture simply wasn’t ready, forcing a delay. Now, with iOS 27, Apple is finally set to deliver the long-awaited Siri overhaul, promising a digital assistant that’s been rebuilt from the ground up.

Siri’s New Capabilities

Based on Apple’s initial promises and subsequent rumors, the Siri arriving in iOS 27 will be virtually unrecognizable compared to the version in iOS 26. Two years of additional development have gone into the project, meaning users should expect even more than the three core improvements Apple demonstrated back in 2024.

The new Siri will draw on personal user data from across Apple devices, gain deeper app integration, and develop onscreen awareness to answer questions and complete tasks based on what’s currently displayed.

Personal Context

Siri will learn about you by accessing emails, messages, files, and photos. This allows it to help track down information and complete tasks in a much more intuitive way. Apple’s examples include:

• “Show me the files Eric sent me last week.”

Onscreen Awareness

With onscreen awareness, Siri will see what you’re looking at and act on it. If someone texts you an address, you can ask Siri to add it to their contact card. If you’re viewing a photo, you can simply request that Siri send it to a friend.

App Integration

Siri will perform more complex actions within and across apps. While the full scope isn’t yet known, Apple has provided a few examples:

• Moving files from one app to another.These capabilities will extend to both Apple’s own apps and third-party apps, as developers will be able to expose their app’s functions to Siri.

Siri as a Chatbot

Apple is transforming Siri into a full-fledged chatbot, similar to Claude or ChatGPT. This Siri chatbot will be integrated at the system level, with a dedicated Siri app for extended, back-and-forth conversations.

It will do everything other chatbots can: search the web for answers, provide summaries, analyze uploaded documents, and even generate images and content for writing or creating infographics.

The key difference from ChatGPT and Claude is Siri‘s deep integration with Apple devices and access to user data. While other chatbots can’t access your mail, notes, Photos Library, or messages, Siri will. This personal data access will set Siri apart and give iPhone users features similar to what Android users enjoy with Gemini’s integration into Google services.

Siri will also handle multi-part questions, remember previous requests, maintain context across conversations, and recall details about the user.

Siri’s Design

Apple is making several design changes to accommodate Siri‘s chatbot transition. The assistant will primarily live in the Dynamic Island.

Swiping down from the center of the iPhone’s display from the Home Screen or any app will activate a new “Search or Ask” feature in the Dynamic Island. A glowing, pill-shaped animation will indicate that Siri is processing a request.

When Siri has an answer, the Dynamic Island will expand into a transparent card showing the result, including images, web info, and notes. Swiping on this results card will open a conversation mode resembling an iMessage chat, with an option to switch to the full Siri app.

“Search or Ask” replaces Siri Suggestions and lets users launch apps, start texts, check the weather, add calendar events, trigger shortcuts, and search the web using Apple’s new AI web search. These queries can also be sent to third-party chatbots like ChatGPT instead of Siri.

Apple is keeping the “Hey Siri” wake word and Side button activation. With the new center swipe, accessing the Notification Center will require a swipe down on the left side of the display, while swiping down on the right will still open Control Center.

Apple will also add an “Ask Siri” button to its app menus, allowing users to send content directly to Siri alongside a request.

The new Siri interface uses dark colors with no light mode option. UI elements have a dark background with color accents in pink, dark blue, purple, and orange, mirroring the imagery from Apple’s WWDC.

A Siri App

A dedicated Siri app will be available for interactions, designed with an Apple aesthetic similar to other chatbot apps. A separate guide covers the Siri app in more detail.

Privacy

Apple is leaning into privacy as a central principle, aiming to distinguish Siri from other chatbot options. The company will keep as much processing on-device as possible to limit data leaving a user’s device.

Apple Intelligence features will continue to run on Apple devices and Private Cloud Compute. Apple will impose limits on memory, including restrictions on what information can persist and for how long. Users will be able to auto-delete Siri chats and requests after a set period, like 30 days or one year, or keep them permanently.

Users who do not want to enable Siri or use the new features will not have to, as both Siri and Apple Intelligence can be turned off.

Siri Extensions

Apple is allowing rival chatbots to integrate with Siri in iOS 27, expanding on the current OpenAI partnership that lets Siri hand off requests to ChatGPT. Apple plans to let other chatbots like Claude and Gemini work with Siri, so users can send questions to their preferred service.

iPhone users will select their desired services through “Extensions” options in iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27. These options will be available in the Apple Intelligence and Siri section of the Settings app, with download links for chatbot apps. A dedicated Extensions section in the App Store will serve as a way to choose a third-party AI app.

Siri will be the default for the Search or Ask interface, but users can select other chatbots to speak with. Users can also choose third-party AI services as the default for Apple Intelligence features like Writing Tools and Image Playground.

Apple also plans to let users choose voices from third-party AI to use instead of Siri, creating a distinct audio difference between a response from Siri and one from the user’s chosen chatbot.

Gemini Help

To get Siri up and running, Apple partnered with Google to use Gemini AI models instead of its own. Apple signed a multi-year deal to use Google’s Gemini models and cloud technology for its Apple Foundation Models.

Google and Apple stated that the next generation of Apple Foundation Models will be based on Google Gemini models, with Gemini used to power future Apple Intelligence features and the more personalized version of Siri. Apple said Google’s AI technology offered the most capable foundation for its models.

Device Compatibility

Apple Intelligence features currently require an iPhone 15 Pro or later, and it’s possible some of the new Siri options could be limited to those same models.

Launch Date

Apple will preview the new Siri at its WWDC 2026 keynote on June 8. Developer betas of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 will be available the same day. Public betas will follow in July, with the full software updates launching in September.

It is not yet clear if all new Siri features will be available in the initial beta or even at the launch of iOS 27.