In summary:
- Macworld reports on Apple’s major AI reboot for Siri coming with iOS 27, transforming it into a full chatbot similar to ChatGPT or Gemini.
- The update may include a dedicated Siri app, new Dynamic Island interfaces, and deeper system integration potentially replacing Spotlight search functionality.
- Many promised iOS 18 Siri features are delayed until iOS 27’s fall release, representing Apple’s most significant virtual assistant overhaul yet.
A new report from Mark Gurman at Bloomberg sheds a little more light on the rumors and leaks already circulating about the upcoming changes coming to Siri. It describes some of Apple’s plans and tests for what Gurman is calling an “AI reboot.”
We’ve already heard that Apple is working on a new Siri powered by Google Gemini (with Apple’s own technology alongside it). A version of that was expected to arrive as part of this week’s iOS 26.4 update, but setbacks in development and testing pushed some of those features back to 26.5.
Other features have been delayed until the fall, when Apple is set to introduce an even bigger Siri overhaul. Still based on Gemini technology, the iOS 27 Siri is supposed to be a full chatbot that you can converse with, similar to the latest versions of ChatGPT or Gemini. It will also reportedly be based on a much larger and more capable foundation model.
The new report makes it sound like Apple won’t release a half-baked new Siri this spring, and instead is putting all its eggs in the OS 27 basket. It should be something of a total AI reboot set to be unveiled at the WWDC keynote on June 8. According to the report, Apple is testing an actual Siri app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Like rival chatbots, it would give users a place to reference and refer to past interactions, and keep multiple AI-powered projects and lines of query going at once.
Apple is also testing new interfaces for Siri to replace the glowing screen border introduced in iOS 18. Users would still be able to summon Siri with the power button or “Siri” wake word, but the response could change. In one version in testing, Siri appears in the Dynamic Island with a prompt to “Search or ask.”
Apple’s systemwide search feature, Spotlight, could also be replaced with Siri. It will still focus on local content and apps, and show “Siri Suggestions,” but it will be able to root through more kinds of data in more apps. Finally, Apple’s plans may include more deeply integrating Siri throughout its OSes. Built-in apps could have an “Ask Siri” toggle in menus, and the keyboard could have a “Write with Siri” option at the top, making Apple Intelligence’s Writing Tools feature more visible.
Key Siri features promised for iOS 18—personal context gleaned from on-device data sources, full screen awareness to add context to commands and questions—don’t seem ready for release any time soon. Gurman reports that people involved believe the majority of the already-announced changes “won’t be ready until this fall” when iOS 27 arrives. That would be two full years since Apple began advertising the features alongside the iPhone 16.
The big expansion of Apple’s “App Intents” feature, by which Siri can perform actions within apps, is still in the works, Gurman says. Perhaps that will be released this spring, while the rest of New Siri comes this fall? We’ll know soon enough, with the iOS 26.5 beta, likely the last major update before WWDC, set to arrive imminently.
Author: Jason Cross, Senior Editor, Macworld
Jason has written about technology for more than 25 years - first in the gaming press, then focusing on enthusiast PCs and general technology. He enjoys learning how complicated technology works and explaining it in a way anyone can understand.