Smarter Siri with personal context understanding later this year in iOS 18 update

Apple today launched the first round of Apple Intelligence features into the iOS 18 beta channel, with a public launch to customers likely coming in October, after iOS 18.0’s debut in September.

Today’s updates for Siri include a new edge-lit UI design and deeper product how-to knowledge. Apple says the new Siri will also more reliably understand user intent, if the user stumbles over their words while making their request, and can better maintain context from one request to the next. However, there’s still a lot Apple demoed at WWDC that isn’t yet shipping for testing …

At WWDC, the most impressive demos for the new Apple Intelligence-powered Siri revolved around being able to ask questions that involved understanding of the user’s personal context.

For instance, users will be able to ask “When is my mom’s flight landing?” and Siri will remember the flight that was discussed in the Mail app, and bring up the relevant flight details. A subsequent request like “What is our lunch plan?” would see Siri summarize the relevant messages conversations between you and your mother, and present it to you.

Despite some earlier rumors that these upgrades won’t be ready until 2025, The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple will deliver the personal context capability before the end of the year:

Before the New Year’s Eve ball drops, Siri will get ChatGPT integration and the ability to tap in to your personal context. (Example: “When should I leave to get mom from the airport?”)

Other improvements like Siri’s ability to use the content of what is on screen to inform requests, or perform complicated in-app actions, are still undated. These features rely more heavily on developers implementing the various App Intents integrations inside their apps.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman previously suggested that Siri in-app action functionality would be available to developers in beta in early 2025, before launching to customers as part of a planned iOS 18.4 update in the spring.