Siri is the voice assistant on Apple devices, equivalent to Amazon's Alexa, Microsoft's Cortana, and Google's Google Assistant. Siri is available across most of Apple's devices, including iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and HomePod.
Siri became Siri AI with iOS 27, and Apple introduced a major overhaul. Siri is smarter and more capable, more similar to ChatGPT and Claude than the original version of Siri. Siri has new capabilities for understanding and reasoning, so it can answer a wide range of questions. It's also able to tap into your personal data in apps like Mail, Messages, and Photos. Siri supports full back-and-forth conversations, and there is a dedicated Siri app.
Activating Siri
On an iPhone or iPad, Siri can be activated by holding down the Side or top button. On devices capable of Apple Intelligence running iOS 27, there is a Liquid Glass Siri bubble integrated into the Dynamic Island.
On the Mac, you can press command + spacebar to open up the "Search or Ask" interface that replaces Spotlight.
On the Apple Watch, you can say "Hey Siri" to activate Siri. On Apple Watch Series 3 or later with the latest version of watchOS, there's a Raise to Speak feature that lets Siri respond to commands even without the Hey Siri trigger word. Just hold the watch up near your mouth and speak a command. Siri can also be activated by holding down on the Digital Crown.
On first-generation AirPods, a double tap activates Siri, and on second-generation AirPods, Siri can be activated with the "Hey Siri" command.
On HomePod, say "Hey Siri" or press on the top of the HomePod to activate Siri.
On the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV, hold down the Siri button on the remote (the button with the microphone) to activate Siri. On the sixth-generation Apple TV or models with the newer Siri Remote (the aluminum remote), press on the side button to activate Siri.
Devices Compatible With Siri
Siri is on almost every Apple device, and it's built into macOS, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS. You can activate Siri on Macs running macOS Sierra or later, all Apple Watch models, the Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K, all modern iPhones, all AirPods models, the HomePod, and the HomePod mini.
Siri AI is available on Apple Intelligence-capable devices running iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS Golden Gate, tvOS 27, visionOS 27, and watchOS 27 or later.
Multiple Siri Devices
When multiple devices that can respond to Siri commands are available, the devices will use Bluetooth to determine which one should respond to the request so not all of them answer at once. According to Apple, the device that heard you best or the device that was most recently raised or used will respond.
If you have a HomePod, the HomePod will often take precedent and respond to "Hey Siri" requests even when other devices that support the feature are nearby.
Countries Where Siri Support is Available
Siri is available in more than 35 countries around the world, including the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and many countries in Asia and Europe.
A full list of countries where Siri is available can be found on Apple's Feature Availability website.
Certain Siri features like translations, sports info, restaurant information and reservations, movie information and showtimes, dictionary, calculations, and conversions are limited to a smaller number of countries.
Siri AI
Siri AI is the latest version of Siri, and it is available on devices that support Apple Intelligence and that have iOS 27, iPadOS 27, watchOS 27, visionOS 27, or macOS Golden Gate installed. Apple says Siri has understanding and reasoning that wasn't available before, with four main improvements that change how Siri works.
Personal Context Understanding
Apple overhauled its search index, and Siri has access to emails, text messages, files, photos, notes, and more. Siri can find content from across your apps, but it also understands that content. You can ask Siri to surface photos, bring up information from emails or texts, or find files, and the Apple Intelligence semantic index behind the scenes finds what you need.
- What was that movie my brother told me to watch last week?
- Can you get me the directions to that place I was supposed to meet Eric tomorrow?
- What video games did John recommend to me last year?
- Find images with pancakes from 2024
- What was the name of that restaurant I ate at in February?
- What's the confirmation number for my upcoming flight?
- What do I need to do tomorrow?
- Show me my photos from the music festival last weekend
- What's the door code Sarah texted me?
- Find the lease my landlord emailed me last month
- Who did I have lunch with two Tuesdays ago?
Broad World Knowledge
Apple can search the web for up-to-date information to answer questions about anything, similar to other chatbots. Siri can analyze documents and get information from the web for additional context, help come up with recipes, do party prep, help with homework, give gardening tips, assist with DIY projects, and much more.
- When is the Suki Waterhouse show in SF?
- How can I get tickets?
- I'm planning a birthday party, can you find me some good cake recipes?
- What's the difference between pine warblers and goldfinches?
- What's the Hurricanes score?
- What are the hours for the closest Ace Hardware?
- What's a good substitute for buttermilk?
- What's a 15% tip on $84?
- Help me plan a 5-day trip to Lisbon
Onscreen Awareness
Siri knows what's on your screen and can answer questions about it. Siri can tell what you're looking at, read text, and analyze images.
Siri can tell you where a photo was taken if there's something recognizable in it, and you can ask questions about any app you're in without having to provide specifics.
- Where was this photo taken?
- Summarize this
- Can you give me directions here?
- What are the best native plant options for a shady spot near my house?
- Does this document look correct?
- What is this?
- Translate this menu
- Explain what this chart is showing
App Actions
App Actions allow Siri to use tools in apps to complete requests. Siri can use some apps on your behalf, including apps from Apple and third-party apps that have implemented App Actions support.
- Write a quick response to this email
- Send all the photos from today to Eric
- Add a 3pm Tuesday meeting with the neighbor to my calendar
- Add these photos to the cat album
- Get me directions to the post office, but add a stop at the coffee shop first
- Move my 2pm meeting to Thursday
Siri Design
On the iPhone, a new Search and Ask Siri interface replaces the former Spotlight search option, and it's available from the Dynamic Island. A swipe down from the middle of the iPhone's display brings up Search or Ask, where you can type or speak a question or request to Siri.
An animation is displayed as Siri is thinking, and then the Siri bubble expands into a short response. If you swipe down on a response, it brings up a text bar where you can provide clarification or ask another question. A "+" button lets you add images or documents to the conversation.
Some responses use rich information cards pulled from apps. If you ask Siri about the weather, you'll see the current weather forecast. If you ask about upcoming calendar events, you'll see them listed in the Calendar app format.
You can also access Siri by pressing the side button or by using the "Siri" and "Hey Siri" wake phrases.
Systemwide Context
Siri works in any app. You can select text or images, then ask Siri about the selection. If you see an image in Safari you want to know more about, you can long press it to select and then ask Siri whatever you want about it.
Siri App
There is a dedicated Siri app where you can start new conversations or revisit past conversations you've had with Siri.
The app has a card-style interface with details on your most recent conversations across all of your devices. You can also use the search button to find conversations, and there's a pin option for conversations that you revisit frequently.
Write with Siri
In iOS 27, you can write with Siri anywhere you type with a systemwide Write with Siri feature. Siri can draft documents from scratch, and in Mail and Messages, it can use the same writing style that you normally use.
Siri can give you feedback on your writing if you select your text and ask Siri how it sounds, and as you type in apps, there's automatic proofreading for misspellings and grammar. Siri can also edit, and you just need to describe the change that you want to make to something you've written, such as changing the tone to be more professional.
- Make this email sound more formal
- Turn these bullet points into a paragraph
- Shorten this to three sentences
- Draft a thank you note for a gift
- Rewrite this to be friendlier
- What do you think of this presentation?
- How can I improve this email?
Apple's AI Models
The Apple Foundation models used for Siri and other Apple Intelligence features in iOS 27 are the result of Apple's collaboration with Google. Apple used the technologies behind the Gemini AI models to develop the next generation of Apple Foundation models.
Apple's AI models are integrated into iOS and coordinated with a system orchestrator that can use the Spotlight index and the app toolbox.
The Spotlight index surfaces data from any app that integrates with it, such as Mail, Calendar, and Messages. The app toolbox identifies which app tools might be useful to answer a request.
Siri Voice
Apple has a more powerful on-device model for the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air, allowing for a customizable Siri voice. Apple says its on-device model can understand and generate speech, plus understand text and images. You can tweak expressivity and pace when customizing Siri's voice.
The on-device model also improves accuracy for system-wide dictation thanks to better natural language understanding. Dictation is better at capturing what you're saying, and it makes fewer mistakes with spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.
Privacy
Apple's Siri features run on-device and on cloud servers using Private Cloud Compute. Data is not accessible to Apple or third parties.
Private Cloud Compute servers have historically all been Apple servers in Apple data centers, but Apple is expanding Private Cloud Compute to run Apple Intelligence workloads on Google Cloud using NVIDIA hardware.
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