At WWDC 2026, Apple launched a new, separate app just for Siri AI. Craig Federighi, who leads Apple’s software team, explained why they made this app during a question-and-answer session after the main keynote at Apple Park.
 |
| Photo Credit: Apple |
He explained that Apple considers Siri to be built into the entire system, not a standalone chatbot meant just for casual chatting. The app was created to make it easier for people to go back to old conversations, keep going with chats they did not finish, and manage their Siri history across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and other Apple devices in a simple way.
The new Siri app is built to help you continue conversations smoothly. As Siri got smarter, people started having longer and more useful chats with it, and they needed a clear place to open and pick up where they stopped before.
Apple tried many ideas inside the company and finally decided that a dedicated app was the easiest and most natural solution. The app works as a center for both new and old chats. You can open it to keep an ongoing conversation going or to look back at past talks. Siri also saves your chat history privately in iCloud, so you can start a chat on one Apple device and continue it on another without losing anything.
Also Read. OnePlus 15 Now Gets AirDrop for iPhone and Mac Through Google’s Quick Share Update
Siri AI will start in beta later this year for English, and developers can test it now in the beta versions of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, and visionOS 27. A public beta will come in July. It works on iPhone 15 Pro and newer (including iPhone 16 and iPhone 17 models), iPad mini with A17 Pro, iPad Air and iPad Pro with M1 or newer chips, and any Mac with an M1 chip or later.
Apple Watch support will come in a future watchOS 27 beta. The new Siri is more conversational and knows your context better. It can handle follow-up questions in a natural way, understand what is on your screen, and take actions across different apps. It can also safely look through your personal data in Apple apps to find old emails, messages, or photos.
When the app launches, some users won't receive it. Apple said Siri AI will not work in the European Union on iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 when those updates come out later this year.
This delay is because Apple and EU regulators still disagree on rules under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), especially about privacy, security, and how virtual assistants should work under the new law. Apple said it is very disappointed that people in the EU will not have Siri AI on iPhone or iPad at launch, and the company does not know yet when it will be available there.
Also Read: Samsung Galaxy A27 European Price Leaked: Base Model Jumps to EUR 349 Ahead of Global Launch
This change shows a shift in Apple’s plan. Last year, Apple's main leaders stated that Apple Intelligence ought to be integrated throughout the operating system rather than provided as a standalone chatbot. The new Siri app does not change that idea. Siri is still part of the whole operating system.
The app just gives people a clean, separate place to go back to their conversation history while keeping Siri connected to daily tasks like writing, browsing, and using the Camera. The new Siri AI will use a fresh AI architecture announced at WWDC 2026 that uses technology related to Google’s Gemini models to make conversation smarter and better at understanding what is on your screen.