Users will be able to ask Siri to pull information from photos, messages and on-screen content and get conversational, context-aware replies after Apple unveiled a rebuilt assistant called Siri AI at its Worldwide Developers Conference on June 8. Apple presented the overhaul as part of a broader Apple Intelligence push that embeds generative AI across iPhone, iPad and Mac software and introduced a standalone Siri app to hold and sync AI conversations. The company said the assistant can analyse what's on the device screen, reach out to the web for broad world knowledge, and refer back to earlier Siri conversations to surface details such as an address sent in a message. Apple said Siri AI and other Apple Intelligence features will arrive in English first, with an iOS 27 public beta in July.

That change means Siri can combine a user’s local photos, messages and on-screen content to answer queries that the old assistant could not, because Apple rebuilt Siri to use on-device context plus generative capabilities tied into its private cloud sync. Craig Federighi, Apple’s software chief, framed the work as centring AI on the user and on-device signals, and said the company designed the features with privacy in mind.

What Siri AI will do on your devices

Apple showed practical examples of what the new assistant can do. Point the camera at a receipt and Siri AI can split a bill and attribute amounts to people. Ask Siri about a photo and it can extract a location from the image and surface related details even when those details exist only inside messages or previous Siri chats. The assistant can also read what's on the screen and combine that visual input with web-sourced facts to produce a conversational answer.

Apple said images and AI-created searches will be stored in a freestanding Siri app that syncs across iPhone, iPad and Mac using the company’s private cloud technology. That app will hold conversation history, and Apple demonstrated the assistant referring back to earlier exchanges to surface information users had not explicitly saved. Federighi emphasised that Apple sought to ground AI in a person’s context while limiting Apple’s own access to user data.

The company also highlighted changes to how Siri sounds and behaves. Apple showed a more expressive voice experience and said users will be able to customise the pace and expressiveness of responses. The company plans multiple invocation methods across devices: voice activation, a press of the side button on supported iPhone models, and typed queries in the system search tool Spotlight. Work is continuing to tailor Siri for the Apple Watch.

Apple pitched the launch as a corrective move rather than a vanity upgrade, acknowledging the new assistant follows multiple delays to an earlier promised Siri overhaul and comes after competitors moved faster to embed agentic generative AI into consumer products.

Executives pointed to rival services from OpenAI, Google and others as examples of features that have already won consumer traction, and Apple framed its distinction around privacy and child-safety upgrades.

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Federighi said Apple aimed to keep the AI grounded in personal context while restricting how much of that context Apple itself can access. The company didn't present a technical white paper in the keynote, but it described the storage of images and searches in the standalone Siri app and the use of private cloud syncing as central to its privacy messaging. For parents, Apple argued the assistant includes safety features to protect children, though details were limited in the demonstration.

Regional availability will be constrained at launch. Apple said Siri AI and some Apple Intelligence features will be available in English first, with other languages to be added quickly. The company flagged that the assistant won't be available initially in the European Union on some devices, including iPhone and iPad models, and that it won't be available in China while Apple works through regulatory requirements.

Apple paired the AI announcement with broader software updates. The next iPhone operating system will be named iOS 27 and Apple confirmed it will support back to iPhone 11 models.

The next Mac operating system will be called Golden Gate. Apple also showed user-interface adjustments in iOS 27 such as additional control over the Liquid Glass visual effect.

Apple plans to offer the upgraded Siri as a beta to consumers later this year. IOS 27 will enter a public beta in July, with a full release scheduled for later this fall. Those are the next public milestones for devices that will carry the new assistant.

Apple’s approach is strategic more than simply technical. By tying conversational features to a synced app and to on-device context, the company is betting privacy-conscious users will prefer a model that minimises centralised data access. At the same time, acknowledging that rivals already have consumer traction is a candid admission that Apple is playing catch up in generative AI on the device.

The productisation questions are practical. Will the synced Siri app create friction for users who want cross-platform access beyond Apple devices?

How finely will Apple let users control what Siri can read from messages, photos and screens? Apple signalled some settings will be available but left operational detail to later documentation.

For developers and services, the implications are twofold. First, embedding generative AI across core system software increases the potential touch points for apps and content to be surfaced conversationally. Second, Apple’s emphasis on private sync and local context changes the calculus for how third parties surface data to the assistant, especially where user privacy settings might restrict access.

Apple’s WWDC presentation used examples to make the capabilities tangible, but the company also emphasised rollout timing and limits. English will be the first language supported, the EU will see partial device restrictions at launch, China will be excluded until regulatory clearance, iOS 27 public beta starts in July, and a Siri consumer beta will follow later this year ahead of a full release in the fall.

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Apple will open the iOS 27 public beta in July, with a consumer beta of Siri AI planned later this year and a full release of the software expected this fall. Originally reported by Reuters.

This article was created with AI assistance.