Apple Intelligence for Siri in Spring 2025
While many Apple Intelligence features will roll out with iOS 18 during the remainder of 2024, its much-awaited revamp of Siri will wait until iOS 18.4 in 2025.
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Before then, there will be a new design to Siri. That will presumably include how Apple has shown that invoking Siri will bring a flare around the edges of the iPhone screen, instead of the current circle icon.
This is a rumor, but, if true, it’s the first time I can recall a key part of the WWDC announcements being so quickly pushed so far back in the release cycle.
It’s also interesting that the new engine is not tied to the new user interface.
The more capable version of Siri allows the voice assistant to control actions within Apps, allowing it to understand what is currently on-screen and determine what to do based on context.
That all sounds good, but when are they going to fix the basics?
Previously:
Update (2024-07-09): John Gruber:
If the usual pattern holds, it’s a safe guess that iOS 18.4 will arrive in mid-to-late March.
If generative AI weren’t seen as essential — both in terms of consumer marketing and investor confidence — I think much, if not most, of what Apple unveiled in “Apple Intelligence” wouldn’t even have been announced until next year’s WWDC[…]
Update (2024-08-14): Filipe Espósito:
One thing that really struck me watching the latest Samsung and Google events is how they emphasize that their respective generative AIs already work in many countries and regions. Apple Intelligence is expected to remain available only in the US until next year.
Update (2024-11-25): Mark Gurman (MacRumors):
Apple is racing to develop a more conversational version of its Siri digital assistant, aiming to catch up with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other voice services. The company plans to introduce the revamped LLM Siri next year and launch it by spring 2026.
Update (2025-01-09): Joe Rossignol:
iOS 18.4 is expected to be released in April with several new Apple Intelligence enhancements for Siri, including on-screen awareness, deeper per-app controls, and better understanding of a user's personal context. However, an even bigger upgrade planned for Siri is still more than a year away, according to a recent report.
Update (2025-02-16): Mike Wuerthele (MacRumors):
But, according to a new report by Bloomberg on Friday, Apple’s work has hit some snags. Some features that were said to be planned for iOS 18.4 are said to have been pushed back to May, or even later.
Reportedly, testing of the improvements internally aren’t going well. The features may be technically included in iOS 18.5, but disabled until Apple throws the switch to turn them on at some point after release.
Update (2025-03-03): Joe Rossignol:
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman last month reported that Apple was considering delaying at least some of its promised Apple Intelligence enhancements for Siri until iOS 18.5, and that plan appears increasingly likely based on his latest information.
Just to provide some visual context on the disconnect between Apple marketing and the reality of Apple AI. This TV ad for Apple Intelligence was released 5 months ago. It still cannot do what is shown here.
Gurman said Apple is no longer planning to unveil the more conversational Siri at WWDC 2025 in June this year, and it appears that the feature is no longer on track to launch as part of iOS 19.4 in March or April next year. Instead, he said that some Apple software engineers believe that the Siri overhaul will not launch until at least iOS 20.
Update (2025-03-04): Ryan Jones:
Apple hires Google’s former AI boss to help improve Siri!
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Guess the date before you click[…]
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“ That all sounds good, but when are they going to fix the basics?”
This is basically the tag line of every WWDC for over a decade.
I don’t know if it’s that they can’t admit their software isn’t perfect, or that they genuinely don’t experience the same pain points we all do.
I’ve heard that developers don’t want to fix “old” things , they only want to work on new things. That’s certainly how management feels.
I wonder how incentives could be aligned such that working on the basics is more respected and rewarded.
I remember back in the day when Android had Google Now on Tap. It could read emails and extract information and put meetings in calendars, track package etc
That had some machine learning, but I think most was just accepted.
I miss that functionality a lot. I think they removed it because it needed too many wizards behind the curtains, and their idea was probably that a neutral network world learn how to do all the things on it's own. That never happened. Just like Zuckerberg s M never learned shit.
