Apple may build agent store

Apple has not announced an “agent store,” but multiple reports this week said the company is exploring how AI agents could be distributed through the App Store and tied into Siri. The reporting points to a familiar Apple pattern: use existing developer plumbing, add system-level controls, and keep distribution inside the company’s review and privacy model. Apple’s own developer materials already show the technical foundation for that approach. App Intents lets developers expose actions from their apps to Siri, Spotlight, Shortcuts and other system surfaces, while Apple Intelligence documentation says those same hooks can make app capabilities available across the operating system. ### Where would an Apple “agent store” actually live? The App Store is the most likely distribution point described in this week’s reporting. A May 13 report summarized by MacRumors, citing The Information, said Apple is looking at ways to better support apps that include AI agents and AI coding features while preserving its security and privacy standards. Computerworld wrote on May 14 that Apple appears to be assembling the pieces for a controlled ecosystem for third-party AI services. (macrumors.com) Apple already has the mechanism to surface app capabilities beyond a standalone download page. Apple’s App Intents documentation says developers can “express” app actions so people can ask Siri to perform them from inside the app or elsewhere in the system. Apple’s Siri for Developers page says those actions can also become discoverable in Spotlight, the Shortcuts app, Control Center and other interfaces. (macrumors.com) ### What would the “agent” part be built on? App Intents is the clearest current answer in Apple’s public materials. Apple’s documentation says developers can create intents, entities and enumerations that conform to assistant schemas to tap into the “enhanced action capabilities” of Siri and Apple Intelligence. Apple also says App Entities can expose app content to Spotlight and semantic indexing with Apple Intelligence. (developer.apple.com) WWDC sessions from 2024 and 2025 show Apple expanding that framework rather than replacing it. Apple’s WWDC24 session on App Intents described improvements for Siri, Spotlight and Shortcuts, and its WWDC25 session highlighted newer features including interactive snippets, entity view annotations and Visual Intelligence integration. Those additions matter because an agent marketplace would need apps to describe what they can do in a structured way the system can call safely. (developer.apple.com) That last point is an inference from Apple’s published developer architecture and the reports, not a public Apple announcement of an agent store. ### Why would Apple route this through Siri instead of a separate AI app? Siri is already the system entry point Apple has documented for cross-app actions. Apple’s developer pages say Siri can let people complete tasks with voice commands, search and other system experiences by integrating apps with Siri and Apple Intelligence. A markdown version of Apple’s documentation also says Siri’s personal context understanding, onscreen awareness and in-app actions remain “in development” for a future software update. (developer.apple.com) That matters because a store full of agents would be less useful without a system assistant that can invoke them. Reports this week framed Apple’s effort as part of a broader Siri expansion, with 9to5Mac saying Apple is working with developers to get apps integrated with a new Siri in iOS 27 and that some developers are concerned about how monetization would work. (developer.apple.com) ### What problems would Apple have to solve first? Apple’s own reported focus is review, privacy and control. The May 13 report summarized by MacRumors said Apple is designing a system that would maintain its security and privacy standards while allowing AI app features. Computerworld described the likely model as tightly controlled, consistent with Apple’s broader App Store approach. (9to5mac.com) A practical issue is that agents do not behave like static apps. If an AI tool can take actions, generate code or complete multi-step tasks, Apple would need a way to review not just the app package but also the behavior exposed through intents, permissions and connected models. Apple has not published such a review framework. What Apple has published is the underlying developer stack, and the next obvious venue for more detail is WWDC, where Apple traditionally updates Siri, App Intents and developer tools. (macrumors.com) (developer.apple.com)