At WWDC 2026, Apple finally unveiled the new Siri AI with iOS 27. It has been rebuilt from the ground up as Apple is re-attempting to win the AI race on consumer hardware. For years, Siri has been the butt of jokes, but with the complete overhaul, Apple is calling its AI assistant "profoundly more capable". So, if you are curious about what Siri AI is and what it can do, follow our in-depth explainer below.
What is Siri AI?
Siri AI is Apple's new conversational voice assistant and it's powered by Apple Intelligence. The Siri we have known since 2011 handled one command at a time and not much else. The new Siri AI, on the other hand, can have back-and-forth conversations, remember the thread, understand the context of your life and take actions across your apps. In fact, it can understand and process multiple commands at once.
Apple has built Siri AI on four key ideas: it understands your personal context, it has broad world knowledge, it has on-screen awareness and can take actions. Once you put these together, you get an AI assistant that can finally tackle useful and multi-step tasks, not just set a timer or alarm.
On your iPhone running iOS 27, you can trigger the new Siri AI in three ways. Just like before, you can say "Hey Siri", press the side button or swipe down from the Dynamic Island. The new Siri AI is deeply integrated into the Dynamic Island.
Apple's software chief Craig Federighi summed it up pretty well, saying the new Siri AI can help you take action across your apps more naturally than ever. And that's why Siri has been rebranded as Siri AI to show how big this shift is.
Inside the Siri AI Architecture
Siri AI is completely different from the old assistant. Apple has rebuilt it from scratch with AI at its core, on top of a new architecture for Apple Intelligence. At the centre is the next generation of Apple Foundation Models, which run both on your device and on Apple's servers using Private Cloud Compute. While smaller tasks are processed on the device, for heavier tasks, the request is sent to a secure cloud server.
All of this is handled by what Apple calls the 'system orchestrator'. It lets Siri AI access core capabilities like the Spotlight index and an on-device App Toolbox, both of which run entirely on your device so you stay in control of your data.
As Apple's diagram shows, everything works outward from the Foundation Models, through the system orchestrator. It results in system-wide experiences you actually use, be it personal context, world knowledge, on-screen awareness, actions or apps.
By the way, these Apple Foundation Models are custom-built in collaboration with Google and its Gemini models, though you won't find any Google or Gemini branding in Siri AI. Apple has likely fine-tuned on top of base Gemini models to create its own Foundation Models.
Now, how does Apple keep things private while sending data to cloud servers? Apple's answer is Private Cloud Compute (PCC). When PCC handles your request, Apple says your personal data is not stored or made accessible to Apple or anyone else and outside experts can verify that claim at any time. And that's why Apple is calling Siri AI the world's most private digital assistant.
Siri AI Features and New Experiences
So what does the new Siri AI actually bring to the table? There is a lot to unpack so let's go through the list of Siri AI features.
A Bold New Look in the Dynamic Island
First things first, what does the new Siri AI actually look like? On the iPhone, Siri AI now lives right inside the Dynamic Island. It replaces the glowing border animation from iOS 18 with a fresh animation that pops out from the Dynamic Island. As mentioned above, you can summon Siri AI in three ways, by saying "Hey Siri", pressing the side button or swiping down from the Dynamic Island to start typing.
Once you ask something either by text or voice, Siri AI pops out with detailed answers right there in the Dynamic Island. And you can pull it down to open the conversation in the dedicated Siri app. Here, you can have a full back-and-forth conversation just by asking a follow-up question. Basically, it never feels like a dead end like the old Siri did.
Apart from that, the Spotlight on iOS 27 has got Siri AI treatment. While you get four of your most-used apps, you can also search for apps or ask Siri AI right from the Spotlight bar.
Personal Context
Personal Context is one of the major features of Siri AI and no third-party AI apps can offer this level of deep integration. Siri AI can access your messages, emails, photos and more to answer questions rooted in your own life. For instance, you can ask Siri AI to find a restaurant a friend texted you, find the confirmation number from a hotel booking buried in your inbox or pull up the photos from last month's trip. This kind of capability ChatGPT and Claude can't offer on an iPhone.
World Knowledge
Siri AI can now go out to the web and pull the latest information on practically anything. It can hand you a proper answer instead of a pile of links (it does cite sources, though). You can ask when the next solar eclipse is or whether your favourite band is touring nearby. You can also keep digging with follow-up questions. With this capability, Siri AI is now on the same field as ChatGPT and Gemini on Android.
On-Screen Awareness
Siri AI understands whatever is on your screen and acts on it. For example, if you get a text about a social gathering, you can trigger Siri AI to scan the screen and discuss what to bring and then drop a recipe straight into Notes. Since Siri AI can see the screen, you skip all the copy-pasting and app switching that used to slow things down.
Takes Action Across Your Apps
This is where all of it comes together. The new Siri doesn't just answer questions, but gets things done and handles multi-step requests that combine several tasks together across apps. In one of Apple's demos, a presenter asked about a concert, found out tickets needed a lottery entry and used Siri AI to set a reminder for when the lottery opened.
In another example, Siri AI pulled dessert details out of the user's Messages, put together a watch-party menu and drafted an invite right away. It can also handle everyday tasks like drafting an email from scratch or sharing a set of photos. That's the kind of cross-app action no third-party chatbot can execute.
A More Expressive Voice for Siri AI
The old Siri had a robotic voice, but Siri AI gets an expressive voice that sounds much more conversational. Best of all, you can customise its expressiveness and pace, so you can make it sound lively and animated or keep it calm and slow, whatever suits you.
In addition, Siri AI now turns your speech into polished text with greater accuracy. It can automatically handle capitalisation, punctuation and formatting as you talk. So you can just speak naturally and trust that your words are transcribed cleanly.
Do note that these voice and dictation features rely on Apple's most advanced on-device model and that's why they are limited to the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max.
Available Across Your Devices
You can continue your Siri AI conversations beyond your iPhone. Since your chat history syncs privately via iCloud, you can start a conversation on your iPhone and resume it on your iPad running iPadOS 27, Mac running macOS 27 Golden Gate, Apple Watch running watchOS 27 or Apple Vision Pro. And when your iPhone is not nearby, Siri AI also works hands-free through CarPlay while you drive and AirPods when you are on the move.
Visual Intelligence and the Camera Siri Mode
Siri AI can now make sense of images too and on the iPhone, it shows up as a brand-new Siri mode inside the Camera app. Just move to the Siri mode, tap the shutter button and it can identify what it's looking at, split a restaurant bill with Apple Cash or give you the nutritional information on a plate of food. Do note that bill-splitting is US-only for now, so it won't work in India just yet.
Write With Siri
Siri AI brings writing suggestions to wherever you type. Tell the AI assistant what you want and it drafts the text or describe a change and it makes the specific changes. The best part is in Mail and Messages, where it matches how you usually talk to each person and mirrors your tone and punctuation.
So if you normally send short bullet points to your manager, Siri AI will draft just like that. It can also offer tips and suggestions to sharpen your writing and there is a system-wide proofreader to check your writing, even inside many third-party apps.
How to Use Siri AI on Your iPhone
I have been testing Siri AI on the iOS 27 developer beta and here is how you can use its popular features. You can follow our dedicated guide and learn how to get the new Siri AI on your iPhone. But before that, go ahead and install the iOS 27 developer beta on your iPhone. On that note, here is how to use Siri AI.
- First up, trigger Siri AI by saying "Hey Siri" or by pressing the side button. You can also swipe down from the Dynamic Island.
- To showcase personal context, I asked for the last message from a contact.
- Siri AI instantly replied with the exact message and recalled the context around it. You can also tap on message cards to jump into the conversation.
- Next, to demonstrate world knowledge, I asked Siri AI about what is so famous about Koh Lanta and it returned a detailed answer with source citations.
- You can also ask follow-up questions. I asked "How do I get there" and Siri AI laid out the full travel route via Krabi, right in the conversation view.
- Moving to on-screen awareness, activate Siri AI by pulling down from the Dynamic Island to show whatever is on your screen.
- While viewing an image on Instagram, I asked where it is and Siri AI correctly named the Wallace Fountain in Paris.
- It works on articles too. I asked Siri AI to summarise an article I was reading in the browser and it summarised the article.
- Finally, app actions. I gave Siri AI a multi-step request to check the weather and send it to a contact.
- Siri AI pulled the live weather, drafted the message and was ready to send the message. This way, Siri AI can work through multiple apps and perform actions.
Siri AI Pricing and Availability
Now, let's start with good news first. Siri AI is free. However, some heavier tasks that rely on Apple's server models, like image generation, come with daily usage limits. You can expand your limit by subscribing to iCloud+ plans.
As for availability, Siri AI won't launch in the EU on iOS and iPadOS at first, due to regulatory issues around the Digital Markets Act (DMA). It also skips China for now while Apple is working through local regulations. Apple didn't mention any other regions, so regions like India should get Siri AI. It arrives in English first as a beta later this year and the full release is likely coming in September.
Which iPhones Support Siri AI?
Siri AI runs on Apple Intelligence, so it needs an iPhone with at least the A17 Pro chip and 8GB of RAM. In simple terms, that is the iPhone 15 Pro and newer. Note that the standard iPhone 15 and 15 Plus miss out because of their older A16 chip and 6GB of RAM. You can check iPhones which are eligible for Siri AI from our dedicated guide. Nevertheless, here is the full list of supported iPhones.
- iPhone 15 Pro
- iPhone 15 Pro Max
- iPhone 16
- iPhone 16e
- iPhone 16 Plus
- iPhone 16 Pro
- iPhone 16 Pro Max
- iPhone 17
- iPhone 17e
- iPhone Air
- iPhone 17 Pro
- iPhone 17 Pro Max
Now, one thing to note, iOS 27 is arriving on much older iPhones, but that doesn't mean that they will receive Siri AI. It's locked to the iPhone 15 Pro and up. And some fancy AI features like the expressive voice and dictation need Apple's most powerful on-device model. And that's why they are limited to the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max.
Is Siri AI Worth the Wait?
So the new Siri AI is finally here, but does it hold any promise? Well, I am pretty impressed by Apple's presentation at WWDC 2026. But let's not forget that Apple showed off these features including personal context, on-screen awareness and app actions back at WWDC 2024. The company promised them for iOS 18 and even ran ads to sell them. However, they never shipped.
That eventually triggered a class-action lawsuit accusing Apple of false advertising. And in May 2026, the company settled it for $250 million and paid up to $95 each to eligible iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 owners who had bought these devices expecting those features.
Even now, Siri AI only arrives in beta later this year, in English first and with the finished version coming this fall. There is now a waiting list to access the new Siri AI on the latest iOS 27 developer beta build. So after two years of delays, I am expecting Apple to deliver on those promises for real with the brand new Siri AI.
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