Apple has finally unveiled its long-awaited Siri overhaul at WWDC 2026, and it's arguably the biggest transformation the voice assistant has seen since its debut on the iPhone 4S. The new Siri AI is no longer just a voice assistant that sets timers and answers basic questions. Instead, Apple has rebuilt Siri as a full-fledged AI chatbot designed to compete with the likes of ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude.
Everything New in Apple's Revamped Siri in iOS 27
The new Siri AI experience powered by Apple Intelligence arrives as part of the iOS 27 update. And for the first time, you get a dedicated Siri app on the iPhone.
For starters, users can customise what their Siri AI sounds like by picking a voice and even being able to customise expressivity and pace.
The new app resembles modern AI chatbots, featuring a conversational interface where users can switch between text and voice interactions. Apple has also added support for pinned conversations, chat history search, and suggested prompts to help users get started.
Apple has also redesigned how Siri appears on the iPhone. Rather than taking over the entire display, Siri now lives inside the Dynamic Island, showing a compact animation and status indicator while processing requests.
Users can expand the Siri interface whenever they need to have a more detailed conversation, making the experience feel far less intrusive than before.
Furthermore, Siri can now be accessed using a new shortcut: swiping down on the dynamic island. It seems like Apple wants Siri to be available to users quicker than a long press of the power button (who cares about accessibility, though). This new interaction means you now swipe down from the top left to access the notifications panel and swipe down from the top right for the Control Center.
The new Siri also doubles as an AI-powered Search Engine. Users can "Ask Siri" questions in natural language and receive conversational responses, summaries and contextual information directly within the app. "Search for a photo from years ago, easily locate an email buried in your inbox, or pull up a note you saved on your iPhone," says Apple.
Meanwhile, there's a new Write with Siri feature which can let users generate a draft from scratch on the basis of prompts. It can also provide feedback on existing drafts. Write with Siri works with Messages and Mail and can "can match your writing style, punctuation, and tone — so you sound like you."
Another major addition is support for file uploads. Siri can now analyse PDFs, images and documents. This allows users to summarise content, extract key details, and ask questions about uploaded files. For students and professionals alike, this could prove to be one of the most useful upgrades.
Apart from this, Apple has upgraded Siri to handle multi-step tasks in a single query and understand context. The assistant can perform actions across multiple apps, manage more complex prompts and understand what's happening on screen. For example, Siri can recognise information from Messages, emails or webpages and act on it without requiring users to manually copy and paste details.
Most importantly, Apple is also making Siri more flexible with a new Extensions framework in iOS 27. Instead of relying on a single AI model, users will be able to install compatible AI chatbot apps and route certain Siri queries to their preferred service. Apple is even creating a dedicated section in the App Store for these AI extensions, making it easier to discover and manage them.
However, third-party AI models won't have the same level of access as Siri. While they can help answer questions and generate content, deeper system functions such as controlling settings or interacting with apps will remain exclusive to Siri. In essence, Siri is evolving into a hub for multiple AI services while retaining its role as the primary AI assistant for Apple iPhones.
Additionally, there's now a Siri mode in the native Camera app on iPhones, letting users start a visual search from the viewfinder itself. According to Apple, the new Siri mode in Camera uses Visual Intelligence to let users "search, ask questions, and take action based on what’s around you with just a tap".
The revamped Siri AI will be available on all iOS 27 eligible devices and will arrive in English "later this year." It appears the new Siri AI will roll out when the iOS 27 stable update arrives later this year with the iPhone 18 series and the iPhone Ultra, Apple's first foldable.
While Apple is clearly trying to catch up in the AI race, the new Siri looks like its most serious attempt yet at turning the voice assistant on iPhones into a genuine AI companion.
