Siri gets a reboot

Apple is not tweaking Siri. It is trying to replace the idea of Siri with something closer to a full AI layer for the iPhone. The shift came into view through a pair of Bloomberg reports in late March. Apple is testing a rebuilt Siri for iOS 27 and macOS 27, with a new “Ask Siri” feature that works across its software, a more conversational interface, and even a standalone Siri app that keeps a history of past interactions. The plan is to unveil the new system at WWDC on June 8, 2026. Internally, the goal is bigger than a prettier voice assistant. Apple wants Siri to become a systemwide AI agent that can control features, work across apps, use personal context from messages and notes, and handle tasks in a chat-like way. (bloomberg.com) That matters because the old Siri model has plainly run out of road. Apple spent years treating voice control as a thin command layer on top of apps. Then ChatGPT changed user expectations. People stopped wanting a button that could set a timer and started wanting a system that could reason through a request, break it into steps, and finish the job. Bloomberg’s reporting suggests Apple now accepts that shift. Siri is being rebuilt not as a voice shortcut, but as the visible face of Apple’s entire AI stack. (bloomberg.com) The most revealing part is not the interface. It is the plumbing. Apple is preparing tools that would let third-party chatbot apps installed from the App Store plug directly into Siri through a new Extensions system. If a user has Gemini or Claude on the phone, Siri could route a query to those services much the way it already hands some requests to ChatGPT. The same framework is expected to work inside the upcoming Siri app and other Apple Intelligence features. This would end the current feeling that Apple has one AI partner and everyone else waits outside the door. (bloomberg.com) That opening also explains why this is an App Store story, not just a Siri story. If outside AI services become first-class options inside Siri, Apple is no longer merely choosing a model provider. It is positioning the iPhone as a marketplace for AI assistants. Bloomberg reported that Apple could generate more revenue from third-party AI subscriptions through the App Store as those services plug into Siri. The company that once took a cut of music, ride-hailing, and dating apps may be preparing to take a cut of premium AI access too. (bloomberg.com) And yet Apple is not giving up on its usual pitch. The company’s public Apple Intelligence materials still frame privacy as the core distinction. Apple says its models run on device when possible, and when they need more power they use Private Cloud Compute on Apple silicon servers, with request data processed only to fulfill the task and not retained in a way Apple can access as personal content. That privacy architecture is central to how Apple wants this reboot understood. The company is opening Siri outward while insisting that the sensitive part of the experience remains under Apple’s control. (apple.com) That balancing act gets stranger when paired with the other Bloomberg detail: Apple is also working with Google to rebuild the underlying Siri technology around Gemini models. In other words, Apple may let users choose among outside assistants at the surface while relying on a rival’s model deeper in the stack. For a company that introduced Apple Intelligence in 2024 as “AI as only Apple can deliver it,” that is a remarkable admission. Apple still wants to own the frame, the interface, the privacy promises, and the billing relationship. It just may not own the intelligence users notice most. (bloomberg.com) This is why Siri has become the test. Apple already gave developers access to its on-device foundation model in 2025, and it already folded Apple Intelligence into writing tools, summaries, translation, and other system features. But those were distributed capabilities. Siri is different. Siri is where users go when they want the machine to feel coherent. If Apple finally turns it into a capable agent, the rest of Apple Intelligence starts to look like a platform. If it does not, all the privacy language and model access in the world will read like scaffolding around an unfinished product. (apple.com)