Since Tim Cook announced a Siri overhaul at WWDC 2024 on June 10, 2024, Apple fans have patiently awaited the arrival of those Siri updates on their iPhones. It's been a long wait, but a few of the most significant new Siri features could roll out soon.
It's no secret that Siri has been in desperate need of upgrades. Apple Intelligence, Apple's new on-device AI platform, is finally giving Siri the glow-up it needs, but Apple has been slow to roll out those features so far.
A few minor upgrades already arrived on compatible iPhones, like Siri's colorful new design and the ChatGPT integration in Apple Intelligence. However, the upcoming iOS updates expected to roll out this spring could finally deliver a few of the most compelling updates that will make Siri much more helpful.
Here's a look at the new Siri features coming in early 2025 and when Apple might release them.
The Siri you've been waiting for
Compared to rapidly-advancing competitors like ChatGPT, Siri is starting to look and feel pretty outdated, but that might not last much longer. Last month, Apple rolled out the first wave of Apple Intelligence features with iOS 18.2, including a ChatGPT integration, Genmoji, Image Playground, Writing Tools, and more. Early in 2025, we could finally see a few of the most significant Siri features in another upcoming software update.
First up is personal context, a feature allowing you to reference things on your phone when interacting with Siri. For example, you could ask Siri about plans you made in a text thread a few days ago. This feature is a big step toward making Siri a legitimately useful "assistant."
Similarly, Siri is also getting onscreen awareness early this year. This feature lets Siri understand visual content on your iPhone, Mac, or iPad screen. For example, if you're looking at your plane tickets on your iPhone, you could ask Siri to save them to the wallet app, and it would understand and act on that. (With personal context, you could also ask Siri about those plane tickets later, and it would know what you were referring to!)
Finally, Siri is also getting new app actions in both Apple and third-party apps. This feature will enable Siri to interact with apps the way users would. You can already do this on a basic level, such as asking Siri to play a specific song on Spotify. However, with these Apple Intelligence updates, you have more actions to choose from, and Siri can complete more complex tasks. App Intents will allow developers to add the same functionality to third-party apps.
When is the rest of Apple Intelligence coming out?
If you're wondering when you'll get to use these new Siri features, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is Apple has been releasing its new AI features in a slow trickle, so unfortunately, we're all in for at least a bit of a wait. The good news is we should be over halfway to the finish line on these three major Siri updates.
Back in September, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman posted on X that the personal context feature wouldn't be "available for 6 months after the iPhone 16 goes on sale." The iPhone 16 went on sale on September 20, so six months from that, the personal context update would be in March or April.
That aligns with the release dates for iOS 17.4 and iOS 16.4, which both came out in March (with additional version updates in April).
This feature isn’t available for 6 months after the iPhone 16 goes on sale. https://t.co/8fa4EhixRjSeptember 13, 2024
In a July 7 newsletter, Gurman also stated that "Apple's big Siri upgrade should arrive next spring," which implies personal context will be just one of several major features in a spring software update.
Apple also released a new API for developers in November, enabling Siri to access onscreen content in their apps, which appears to be for the upcoming onscreen awareness feature, but it could also be part of the new app actions coming to Siri. This could hint that Apple is nearly ready to release these new features and is now giving developers time to make them compatible with their apps ahead of an official release.
So, assuming Apple's update release schedule is similar to previous years, we can expect the iOS 18.4 update in March or April to include the "big Siri upgrade" Gurman was talking about. This will likely include personal context, onscreen awareness, and new app actions. Other features could also be part of that spring update, but we'll have to wait and see.
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