5 Ways Siri Is About To Improve With Apple Intelligence

When Apple first launched Siri back in 2011, it made some lofty promises about what it could do. But let's be honest — Siri has been kind of a letdown for most of its existence, especially when you stack it up against other virtual assistants. The good news? It looks like that's finally about to change.

At Apple's iPhone reveal event, the company revealed some significant updates for Siri, enhanced by its new generative AI named "Apple Intelligence." We've tested the feature and found some of Apple AI's best functions, but today, we're focusing on Siri. Apple is promising that Siri will feel more natural, be smarter with context, and be capable in more unique and personal ways. The demo at the event and in Apple's press release looks impressive, but by now, any seasoned Apple fan knows that what's shown on stage and how it actually works — especially with Siri — can be two very different things. Here's what you can expect from the new and improved Siri.

A big part of the upgrade is Siri's improved ability to grasp nuance and context. The voice assistant will now be better at understanding how humans talk. No need to be a robotic diction god, and hopefully no need for a perfect English accent to be understood either. Thanks to improved language understanding, Siri will follow along even if you lose your train of thought or stumble over your words, rather than abruptly cutting you off. It now also remembers conversations, meaning you can follow up on an earlier query without needing to say "Hey Siri" each time.

Building on that conversational memory, the second new feature is Siri will also use interaction history to make personalized recommendations. Whether it's pulling up that recipe a friend sent you previously, or queuing up your favorite podcast, Siri will be more in tune with your habits. Siri will also gain on-screen awareness, so it can take action based on context clues from what's on your screen. For instance, if someone texts you about a new video, you could simply instruct Siri to play it without needing to open the video app.

Another updated feature is Apple Intelligence now also lets you use text input with Siri, so you can type your requests when you prefer not to speak. However, this is not a new feature — Type to Siri is already available on iOS, and has been for a while. What's new is that you can now access that functionality with a simple double tap at the bottom of your screen, so you can easily switch between voice and text commands, instead of having one enabled by default.

The third big upgrade is Siri now doubles as your personal tech support. Need to find where your passwords are stored on your iPhone, or how to reveal hidden photos? Siri can guide you through the process step-by-step, which makes it a nifty go-to for the tech-challenged or new iOS users. Plus, depending on the query, Siri will include an "Apple Support" link that can take you to a relevant support page or a quick button to jump straight to the Settings page you need.

Additionally, Apple says we can all (well, not all — more details on eligibility below) say goodbye to the days of Siri going "I'm afraid I can't do that." The fourth new feature is Siri has new capabilities within apps, so it can easily execute tasks like updating contact details, creating and modifying photo albums, and identifying photos by description. You can also ask it to open specific emails or messages without having to open the full app — you'll get results as a quick preview at the top of the screen. This opens up exciting possibilities, especially if Apple ends up allowing third-party app integration for contextual actions.

The final upgrade is an aesthetic one: When activated on iPhone, iPad, or CarPlay, a sleek glowing light will wrap around the edge of the screen, adding a modern touch. On Mac, users can now move Siri anywhere on their desktop for easy access while working.

These updates, part of Apple's broader Intelligence feature set, will be available in beta with the launch of iOS 18.1. While the new Siri features sound exciting, there's a catch: Apple Intelligence is limited to select devices. No surprise there — at this point, "exclusive" might as well be Apple's middle name, meaning only certain modern chipsets can utilize these new features. The update will roll out on iPhone 15 Pro models, the entire iPhone 16 lineup, and iPads or Macs with an M1 chip or later. It's currently limited to devices set to U.S. English, with more languages coming soon.

As well, Apple Intelligence promises even more new features will come to future iPhones, though no timeline was set for any of those additional features. Apple promises that, in the future, iPhone users will be able to use something called "Image Playground" to create AI-generated images. As well, "Image Wand" will perform a similar function by using the context of an existing image or symbol on screen and use AI to create an image around it. As well, emojis will get some sort of AI "Genmoji" boost, though it's unclear how far that feature can actually go for now. 

Honestly, these upgrades sound promising, but I'm careful not to get too excited. Years of underwhelming performance have made me skeptical about real progress with Siri. I'll reserve judgment until I see Siri with Apple Intelligence in action.