Apple fans have been patiently waiting for the Siri update to hit their iPhones ever since Tim Cook announced the Siri revamp at WWDC 2024 on June 10, 2024. It’s been a long wait, but some of Siri’s most important new features may be coming soon.
It’s no secret that Siri is in dire need of an upgrade. Apple Intelligence, Apple’s new on-device AI platform, is finally giving Siri the capabilities it needs, but Apple has been slow to roll out these capabilities until now.
Several minor upgrades are already coming to compatible iPhones, including a colorful new design for Siri and ChatGPT integration into Apple Intelligence. But the next iOS update, due out this spring, could offer some of the most exciting updates that will make Siri even more useful.
Here’s a look at the new Siri features coming in early 2025 and when Apple will release them.
The Siri you’ve been waiting for
Compared to rapidly advancing competitors like ChatGPT, Siri is starting to look quite outdated, but that may not be the case for much longer. Last month, Apple rolled out the first wave of Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18.2, including ChatGPT integration, Genmoji, Image Playground, Writing Tools, and more. Some of the most important Siri features could finally arrive in the next software update in early 2025.
The first is personal context. This is a feature that allows you to see information on your phone when you interact with Siri. For example, you can ask Siri about the plans you made in a text thread a few days ago. This feature is a big step toward making Siri a legitimately useful “assistant.”
Similarly, Siri will also become visible on your screen early this year. This feature allows Siri to understand visual content on your iPhone, Mac, or iPad screen. For example, if you’re looking at airline tickets on your iPhone, you can ask Siri to save the tickets to your Wallet app, and Siri will understand and act accordingly. (If you want more personal context, you can also ask Siri about tickets later so it knows what you’re referring to.)
Finally, Siri also added new app actions for both Apple apps and third-party apps. This feature allows Siri to interact with apps the same way you would. You can already do this at a basic level, like asking Siri to play a specific song on Spotify. However, these Apple Intelligence updates give you more actions to choose from and allow Siri to perform more complex tasks. App Intents allows developers to add the same functionality to third-party apps.
When will the rest of Apple Intelligence be published?
If you’re wondering when these new Siri features will be available, we have good news and bad news. The bad news is that Apple is slowly releasing new AI features, so unfortunately you’ll have to wait at least a little bit. The good news is that we should be more than halfway across the finish line with these three major Siri updates.
Back in September, Bloomberg’s Mark Garman posted on X that the Personal Context feature “will not be available for six months after iPhone 16 launch.” The iPhone 16 was released on September 20th, so the Personal Context update will probably arrive in March or April, six months later.
This coincides with the release dates of iOS 17.4 and iOS 16.4, both released in March (with additional version updates coming in April).
This feature will not be available for six months after iPhone 16 launch. https://t.co/8fa4EhixRjSeptember 13, 2024
Garman also said in his July 7 newsletter that “a big upgrade to Apple’s Siri should arrive next spring,” meaning that personal context is one of several key features in the spring software update. It suggests that it is only one.
Apple also released a new API for developers in November that allows Siri to access on-screen content within apps. This is likely due to an upcoming on-screen recognition feature, but it could also be part of new app actions coming to Siri. This could suggest that Apple is almost ready to release these new features and is giving developers time to make their apps compatible before the official release.
So, assuming Apple’s update release schedule is similar to previous years, we can expect the iOS 18.4 update in March or April to include the “big Siri upgrade” Garman was talking about. This can include personal context, on-screen recognition, and new actions in your app. Other features may also be included in the spring update, but we’ll have to wait and see.
