For years, Siri had a hard time even answering basic questions, while ChatGPT and Gemini leapfrogged ahead and showed what AI chatbot apps could do. That has finally changed. At WWDC 2026, Apple introduced a proper standalone Siri app where you can access all your past chats. So, if you are curious, follow our in-depth explainer on the new Siri app.
What is the New Siri App?
The new Siri app is Apple's attempt to turn its voice assistant into a modern and conversational AI chatbot. Earlier, if you asked Siri one thing, it responded with an answer and that's it. Now, the Siri app in iOS 27 gives you a permanent place to keep your chats and you can also converse in both text or voice mode.
You can ask follow-up questions, go back and forth on a topic, and resume your conversation where you left off. That said, Apple was not initially inclined to build a full AI chatbot like ChatGPT and Gemini. In fact, Apple's software chief, Craig Federighi said in 2025 that it does not want to send users "off into some chat experience in order to get things done".
But thanks to the broader adoption of chat-centric AI apps like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, Apple has now built a standalone Siri AI app. If we look at the AI landscape, Google has integrated Gemini into Android, and ChatGPT has over 900 million weekly active users. In such a scenario, Apple simply can't add AI features to system apps and call it a day.
When is the Siri App Launching?
Apple introduced the Siri app at WWDC 2026 and released the first iOS 27 developer beta. You can follow our guide and install the iOS 27 developer beta on your iPhone right away. Following that, you can join the waitlist to get the new Siri AI on your iPhone.
Note that the app rolls out as a beta later this year and the full release is arriving in September. At launch, the Siri app will be English only with more languages to follow. You can check if your iPhone is on the iOS 27 eligible devices list or not.
Siri App Pricing and Availability
The Siri app is free, however, some features that rely on Apple's powerful server models come with daily usage limits. And if you hit the usage limit, you can get increased access through iCloud+ plans.
That said, the Siri app will not be available initially in the EU on iOS due to regulatory issues around the Digital Markets Act (DMA). And in China, the app will not be available while Apple is working through regulatory requirements.
Which iPhones Will Get the Siri App?
The Siri app actually requires Apple Intelligence support. As a result, your iPhone must have at least the Apple A17 Pro chip and 8GB of RAM. Basically, you will need the iPhone 15 Pro or newer models.
This is also why the base iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus don't get the new Siri app. As they run the older A16 Bionic chip with just 6GB of RAM, it's not enough to keep Apple's on-device model loaded in memory. The iPhone 14 Pro and older devices are out too.
However, if you own the base iPhone 16, iPhone 17, or even the budget iPhone 16e or iPhone 17e, you should be all set. Here is the list of all iPhone models that support the Siri app:
- 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
Note that iOS 27 itself supports a long list of iPhones, going all the way back to the iPhone 11. However, getting the latest update is not the same as getting the new Siri. So even if your iPhone 11, 12 or base iPhone 13 gets the iOS 27 update, the new Siri app remains locked to the iPhone 15 Pro and newer.
Siri App Features in iOS 27
Apple has built a dedicated Siri app for iPhone, iPad and Mac that looks and functions like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. Here are all the key features.
Text and Voice Conversations
At its core, the Siri app lets you chat with Siri in a conversation view that looks like an iMessage thread. It also has chat bubbles support and offers an "Ask Siri" prompt at the bottom. You can type your messages or switch to voice mode with a tap. And unlike the old Siri that vanished after a single reply, the app retains the full conversation, so you can ask follow-up questions and keep a topic going.
Conversation History and iCloud Sync
The Siri app keeps all your past chats in one place, so you can scroll through them or start a fresh chat anytime. The best part is that your conversation history syncs across devices via iCloud. That means you can begin a chat on your Mac and resume it seamlessly on your iPhone or Apple Watch.
Upload Files and Photos
Just like other chatbot apps, the Siri app lets you upload documents and photos straight into a conversation. You can attach a PDF file, an image or a file and then ask Siri to analyse it. You can use this it to summarise a long document or ask questions about a picture.
Ask Almost Anything
Inside the app, Siri can access broad world knowledge to pull the latest information from the web. It can give you a conversational answer rather than a list of links. The Siri app does cite web sources with its response. So, you can ask it anything from when the next solar eclipse is to when a band is touring and then dig deeper with follow-up questions.
Answers From Your Own Data
This is where the Siri app has an edge over other third-party chatbot apps. It can access your personal context to pull answers from your own messages, emails and photos. For instance, you can ask it to find a restaurant a friend recommended over text or show a hotel confirmation stored in an old email. All of this can be carried within a conversation.
Memory and Privacy
Apple is taking a privacy-first approach with the Siri app. Apple says it processes your requests on device and on Private Cloud Compute. In addition, when Private Cloud Compute handles a request, your data is "not stored nor made accessible to Apple or anyone else". That said, there were earlier reports saying that Apple would let you auto-delete conversations after a set period, but the company did not detail this option on stage.
What Powers the Siri App?
In January 2026, Apple and Google announced a multi-year partnership and according to multiple reports, Apple is paying Google roughly $1 billion per year for access to a custom Gemini model. This custom AI model was said to be based on Gemini 3 and it's significantly more powerful than anything Apple has built so far.
In March 2026, The Information reported that the partnership is much more deep. The report says that Apple has full access to Gemini within its own data centres, running on Private Cloud Compute infrastructure. In fact, Apple is allowed to distill smaller and task-specific models from Gemini that can run on Apple devices.
At WWDC 2026, Apple confirmed that the Siri app runs on the next generation of Apple Foundation Models, which are "custom-built in collaboration with Google and its Gemini models". These models run on device and on servers using Private Cloud Compute. Basically, Apple's Foundation Models are fine-tuned on top of base Gemini models.
Either way, there is no Google or Gemini branding anywhere in the Siri app. Just to add some context, Google was not Apple's first choice, but it was a necessity. Apple had initially considered building Siri around Anthropic's Claude AI chatbot, but due to some capabilities and commercial reasons, Apple chose Gemini.
The Road to the Siri app
If anything, Apple was averse to the idea of packaging Siri into an AI chatbot. It didn't want to create just another AI chatbot, instead, the company wanted to weave AI experiences across the system. However, after failed initiatives in the AI race and a legal settlement, Apple has finally delivered a Siri app in 2026. Here is the timeline of events.
| Timeline | Event |
|---|---|
| June 2024 | At WWDC 2024, Apple showcased it most ambitious AI-powered Siri features. It included on-screen awareness, personal context, and cross-app actions. These AI features were expected to ship with iOS 18, but they were delayed. |
| December 2024 | Apple shipped ChatGPT integration with Siri in iOS 18.2, which was a sort of admission that Apple couldn't compete on model intelligence. And the promised AI features were nowhere to be found. |
| March 2025 | Apple finally confirmed delays on Siri AI features and removed claims that Apple Intelligence is available. Apple CEO Tim Cook removed AI Chief John Giannandrea and handed the division to Mike Rockwell, who reported to Craig Federighi. |
| August to December 2025 | Apple was in talks with Google and Anthropic for rebuilding Siri. John Giannandrea finally retired in December, and Apple hired Amar Subramanya, who was a former Google and Microsoft AI executive, as the new AI chief. Meanwhile, senior Apple researchers left for Google, OpenAI, and Meta. |
| January 2026 | Apple and Google announced a multi-year partnership and the next generation of Apple Foundation models would be based on Gemini models. |
| March 2026 | Project "Campo" aka the new Siri app revealed, which will replace the current Siri interface. Apple has also stopped developing separate chatbots for Safari, Health, and other apps. Everything will be unified through a single Siri layer. |
| May 2026 | Apple agreed to a $250 million settlement over its delayed and falsely-advertised Siri features. Apple has to pay eligible iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 owners up to $95 per device. |
| June 2026 | Apple officially unveiled the new Siri app at WWDC 2026 and released the first iOS 27 developer beta. |
Are You Excited for the New Siri?
After two years of waiting, Apple finally has a proper Siri app and this time the company actually demoed it on stage. It looks like a proper chatbot app with text and voice conversations, synced chat history, file uploads and the ability to pull answers from both the web and your own data. The big advantage is personal context since ChatGPT and Claude can't access your messages, emails and photos the way the Siri app can.
That said, Apple has, in a way, conceded that it's not in the AI race to build the most intelligent and capable AI model. It's now trying to build the best AI experience using third-party models and deep OS-level integration. Now it will be interesting to see whether it lives up to the hype.
