13 years ago, Siri set high expectations for our interaction with smartphones through voice commands, but it didn’t meet those expectations. Neither Siri, Alexa, nor Google Assistant were able to live up to the potential. The arrival of large language models (LLMs) made them seem lacking in comparison.
With the introduction of Apple Intelligence, Siri is now benefitting from an approach that enhances its capabilities. Apple has described the new Siri as more natural, more contextually relevant, and more personal.
What has changed. Siri’s interface is no longer a colored disc at the bottom of the screen. Instead, it now forms a border around the entire iPhone frame in soft colors, clearly indicating that Siri is active.
Furthermore, Siri now has a better understanding of natural language requests, allowing you to accomplish nearly anything with simple, normal requests. It remains to be seen what its limitations are.
Voice or text. While we’ve been able to text Siri instead of just talk to it for many years as part of Apple's focus on accessibility, it wasn’t meant for every user and wasn’t very convenient.
With this new Siri, there’s a greater focus on text chat. You can ask Siri for anything by typing what you want, and Siri will respond.
Image: Apple
What can you ask Siri now? Some examples of the changes Apple has implemented:
- “What time does my mother’s flight arrive?” If your mom communicated this information in a message or email, Siri finds it and provides the answer.
- “Show me the files I added in June”
- “Which album did my sister recommend last week?”
There’s really no end to the list. You no longer have to think in terms of specific voice commands, but simply state what to obtain. This is similar to the leap from Google to ChatGPT.
Image: Apple
Personal context. Apple has revealed that the new Siri will use our personal information to provide custom responses based on our personal context. User files, images, events, emails, messages, etc., are processed locally to enable Siri to work with them.
This way, Siri can “find and understand things it never could before.” For instance, Siri will be able to recognize what you’re viewing on the screen at any given time and make adjustments to the app you’re using.
As an example, Apple demonstrated a situation where you might need to include your driving license number on a form. In this case, Siri can automatically locate it if you’ve previously taken a photo of the license or scanned it, and then suggest adding that number with a single tap.
Actions via Siri. Apple also demonstrated another case of what the new Siri will be capable of doing. Let’s say you want to find a specific photo in the Photos app, but you can’t remember enough details about it, like the date or location, to use the search function. With Siri, you can simply ask your phone to show you a photo of you in a pink sweatshirt, and it’ll appear.
Image: Apple
Furthermore, you can give Siri additional commands to edit the photo in a specific way and then add it to a specific note in the Notes app. All of this can be done seamlessly using Siri prompts.
Help. If you’re unsure about how to do something on your iPhone, Siri can help you out. You can ask Siri for guidance on tasks like taking a screenshot or changing specific settings.
When will you get the new Siri? The new and improved Siri will be integrated into Apple's upcoming operating systems as part of Apple Intelligence. These operating systems will be iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS 15. They’re expected to be released in the fall, following Apple’s usual launch pattern, which typically occurs around the beginning of September when it unveils its newest line of iPhones.
Image | Apple
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