Apple Launches Siri AI Beta With Personal Context, Onscreen Awareness, and App Actions

Apple has begun rolling out Siri AI in beta, introducing a rebuilt assistant with personal context, onscreen awareness, web knowledge, and expanded actions across apps. The new Siri is initially available in English as part of Apple's OS 27 software releases, with French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish support planned for October.



Personal context allows Siri to search a user's messages, emails, photos, and other information when answering a request. In one example, it can find an activity mentioned by a family member in Messages, retrieve related instructions from Mail, and add the necessary ingredients to Reminders. The assistant can also draft an email, edit and share a group of photos, and perform other actions across the system.



Existing integrations continue to support actions such as sending a WhatsApp message or playing an Audible book. Apple says support for drafting email in Microsoft Outlook, finding an assignment in Notability, and saving a restaurant recommendation in Tripsy is coming later.


Onscreen awareness lets users ask about displayed text, images, files, and webpages, then act on the answer. Siri can also search the web for current information and carry a response into a longer conversation with follow-up questions. These capabilities build on the Siri AI and Apple Intelligence features previewed at WWDC26.

Siri AI can be invoked with the side button or a downward swipe from Dynamic Island on iPhone. It is integrated into Spotlight on iPad and Mac, as well as system context menus for questions about selected content. Apple Vision Pro presents Siri as a spatial 3D visualization that can be placed in the user's environment and activated by looking at it and speaking.



A dedicated Siri app stores conversation history and uses iCloud to sync it across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro. Users can also adjust the expressiveness and pace of Siri's voice. On devices that support Apple's AFM Core Advanced model, revised systemwide dictation automatically handles capitalization, punctuation, and formatting.


Visual Intelligence extends Siri's image understanding across Apple's platforms. The Camera app on iPhone has a Siri mode for questions and actions involving physical objects, while iPad integrates the feature into screenshots. Mac users can select onscreen content with a keyboard shortcut, and Vision Pro can answer questions about app windows and objects in the surrounding space.





Integrated Writing Tools can generate a draft from a description or revise existing text according to an instruction. In Mail and Messages, Siri can reflect the punctuation and tone a user typically employs with each recipient, while systemwide proofreading works in most third-party apps.



The wider Apple Intelligence update adds Spatial Reframing, Extend, and an improved Clean Up tool to Photos. Image Playground gains a new model running on Private Cloud Compute, including support for photorealistic output and upcoming SynthID identification. Safari can organize tabs by topic, monitor webpages for changes, and create extensions from a description. Smart Reply in Mail and Messages can use a person's writing style, while Calendar accepts natural-language event changes and Shortcuts can build an automation from a description.

On Apple Watch, Audio Intelligence uses the S11 chip in Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4. Sound Recognition can alert users to sirens, alarms, doorbells, and a baby crying without an iPhone nearby. Live Rewind displays the previous 15 seconds of a conversation as text, Siri Recap creates a title and key points after a conversation, and Shazam can automatically identify nearby music in the Smart Stack.



The Watch features do not create or store audio recordings, according to Apple. Raw audio is processed inside Secure Exclave and immediately deleted, while Live Rewind snippets and Siri Recap summaries are end-to-end encrypted in the Siri app. Live Rewind also plays an audible chime and displays an animation and microphone indicator when active. Siri Recap and Live Rewind are scheduled to arrive in beta later this year.

The new Apple Foundation Models were developed with Google and its Gemini models and operate both on devices and through Private Cloud Compute. Siri's system orchestrator can also use local resources such as the Spotlight index and App Toolbox.

Availability
Siri AI is rolling out in beta in English with iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, and visionOS 27. It requires an Apple Intelligence-compatible device: iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16 or later, iPad mini with A17 Pro, iPad with M1 or later, MacBook Neo with A18 Pro, Mac with M1 or later, Apple Vision Pro, Apple Watch Series 9 or later, Apple Watch Ultra 2 or later, or Apple Watch SE 3 paired with a compatible iPhone. Some Apple Watch features require the iPhone to be nearby.

The beta is not initially available on iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch in the European Union, though Mac and Vision Pro users in the EU can access it in a supported language. Siri AI and the other new Apple Intelligence features are unavailable in China while Apple works through regulatory requirements. Siri AI is not available to users under 13.

Certain server-based features, including Siri AI, intelligent photo editing, Image Playground, and AFM 3 Cloud models in Shortcuts, are subject to daily usage limits that vary with the feature, request, system demand, and other factors. Apple says expanded access will be offered for a fee in the future.