Everyone Missed the Biggest Disappointment of Apple's Siri Delay [Gurman]

While Apple's decision to delay its most advanced Siri features was a clear disappointment, a new report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman suggests the real loss was an unheralded but far more significant upgrade: a new version of App Intents that would finally allow Siri to act as a true hands-free controller for the iPhone.

The report notes that while many focused on the delay of Siri's ability to tap into personal data—a feature showcased at WWDC 2024—the more powerful App Intents update would have been a 'real game changer.' This technology would let users give complex, multi-step commands to Siri, such as finding a specific photo, editing it, and sending it to a contact; commenting on an Instagram post; scrolling through a shopping app to add an item to your cart; or even logging into a service without touching the screen. These features have now been pushed back.


This upgraded Siri functionality is reportedly key to Apple's future hardware plans. The company's upcoming home devices, including a smart display set for next year and a tabletop robot after that, are said to rely on this advanced voice control to function naturally. Gurman notes that without it, these products would be less compelling than devices Amazon and Google launched five years ago, which is why the Siri delay has already pushed the smart display back a full year.

According to Gurman, perfecting this feature has become a top priority for Apple's global data operations team, which is responsible for comparing Siri and Apple Intelligence outputs to raw data to identify errors. Gurman says Apple doesn't want to be in the news again for overpromising and under-delivering.

Engineers have reportedly been struggling with the system's accuracy, and there are worries about it failing in categories where precision is nonnegotiable, like in health or banking apps. As Gurman points out, letting the 'Siri brain of today' control all your apps would be risky.

To mitigate this, Apple is considering sharply limiting what Siri can do in these sensitive apps at launch, or even excluding them altogether. Testing is currently underway with a select group of third-party apps, including Uber, AllTrails, Threads, Temu, Amazon, YouTube, Facebook, WhatsApp, and even a few games, in addition to Apple's own software. The plan is to ship the feature in the spring and market it heavily, but if Apple can deliver on this vision, it could be a hit many users didn't see coming.


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