Apple Unveils Enhanced Siri with Public Beta of iOS 27

Apple Unveils Enhanced Siri with Public Beta of iOS 27

Apple is opening up its biggest overhaul of Siri to a wider audience with the release of the public beta of iOS 27, allowing everyday users to test the new AI assistant ahead of its broader launch expected this fall.

The public beta marks the first time Apple has made its AI-powered Siri widely accessible beyond developers. With around 2.5 billion active devices worldwide, even if only a fraction of users install the public beta, it will still represent the largest test of Apple’s reimagined AI assistant and its response to ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and others.

The AI update for Siri, officially announced at Apple’s WWDC in June, transforms Apple’s aging voice assistant into a more capable AI-powered tool that can access information on a user’s device, including emails, photos, and messages, as well as respond to what is displayed on the screen and anchor its answers in general knowledge, similar to any modern AI chatbot.

It is also more deeply integrated into the operating system. It can be activated by saying “Hey Siri” or by pressing the side button, as before, as well as by swiping down from the Dynamic Island (the black bar at the top of the screen). Additionally, it is integrated into the iPhone's built-in search tool, Spotlight, making it more powerful than ever as it can search for answers to almost any question.

For the first time, Siri also has its own standalone app, an experience that those already comfortable with chatbots like ChatGPT or Gemini might prefer. However, given that Siri is so deeply integrated into the iPhone, accessing it via an app seems somewhat redundant.

In addition to iOS 27 on the iPhone, the enhanced Siri is available on all other Apple products, including the iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, CarPlay, AirPods, Apple TV, and Vision Pro.

Under the hood, Siri AI utilizes Apple Intelligence, including Apple’s new Foundation Models that operate on-device and use its Private Cloud Compute. Apple built its Foundation Models in collaboration with Google and its Gemini model, but these models are not simply a rebranded version of Gemini. Instead, Apple’s models have been specifically designed for its Apple Silicon using proprietary data, and distilled from Gemini—a process that uses Gemini to create smaller, highly efficient models integrated into iOS and other Apple software. Meanwhile, Private Cloud Compute ensures that users' personal data is not stored or accessible by Apple.

During initial tests of the developer version of Siri AI, the assistant was able to better handle basic tasks on the phone, such as finding specific photos in your Photo Library, summarizing group messages, adding a texted appointment to your calendar, and searching for nutritional information about what’s in your camera view. It was also better at answering questions you would normally have to search for online, such as the date of an upcoming local event or the latest news.

In the developer beta, Siri sometimes displayed error messages or was confused. (For example, I once asked Siri for the latest news on Iran, and it searched my contacts for someone with that name.)

However, it’s easy to imagine Siri becoming a more significant part of your daily digital life, especially since it doesn’t require opening an app to use it.

Overall, this year’s developer betas have been quite stable, making the public beta much easier to recommend this time around. Of course, installing a beta should always be approached with caution; if your device needs to function flawlessly and never encounter errors, you might want to wait for the public launch of iOS 27, expected in September.