Apple launches dedicated Siri app, marking assistant's biggest transformation yet

Apple gives Siri its own dedicated app

At WWDC on Monday, Apple unveiled the new AI-ified version of Siri -- in what has been called the assistant's biggest and most dramatic transformation in the company's history. In addition to the launch of its new Siri AI system, the personal assistant now has its own standalone app. The app is designed to serve as a warehouse of the user's previous, archived conversations with the assistant. Much like the functionality of chatbots like ChatGPT or Claude, users can scroll through all of those previous conversations and re-visit a session. When a user opens a previous conversation, the app provides an overview of what was said so that users don't have to read through the entire transcript. The app is also the place where users can launch a new conversation with the assistant. Siri now offers users a multi-function interface that mirrors other AI chatbots where users can enter text, upload documents and images, and a voice mode, where you can speak directly to it. The Siri app is designed to give users access to the assistant across Apple devices, including iOS, MacOS, and iPadOS. All of a user's Siri conversations are synced privately with iCloud, per Apple's typical privacy protections. The dedicated app is obviously designed to give users a more organized way to interact with the assistant, as its powers become more extensive within Apple's software.

Siri is getting an all new app experience later this year - Engadget

Apple's digital assistant is finally getting true chatbot capabilities. Siri has been a touchy subject, as Apple's digital assistant has fallen behind rival AIs from companies like Google, OpenAI and Anthropic. But Apple is hoping to change that by leveraging Gemini to provide Siri with upgraded intelligence while also creating a new dedicated app for its assistant, a change it announced at WWDC 2026. As before, Siri can be summoned with a voice prompt or by holding down an iPhone's power button. Apple's assistant will now emerge from the Dynamic Island to let you know that it's listening. Users will be able to swipe down from the top center of their device's display to launch a new search box where they can ask questions via voice or text. For more complicated tasks, Apple is making a standalone Siri app for people looking for a more conversational, chatbot-like experience. From there, they'll be able to see their previous queries and chats while the app gives Siri more room to display detailed text cards and multimedia in response to questions. Additionally, Siri will have access to a device's camera and will be able to see what's on its screen in order to do things like identify an object in a photo or in real life. This story is still developing, please check back for updates...

Craig Federighi explains why Apple made a Siri chatbot app after all

As part of iOS 27, Apple debuted an all-new Siri app as a way for users to manage their interactions with Siri AI. In a post-keynote tech talk at Apple Park this week, Apple's Craig Federighi explained why Apple decided to launch a chatbot-style app, after previously saying a chatbot wasn't part of Apple's strategy ... In an interview with Joanna Stern last year, Federighi and Greg Joswiak explained that Apple's strategy with Apple Intelligence was to create an "experience that's integrated into everything you do, not a bolt-on chatbot on the side." Federighi was directly asked about those comments in the Q&A I attended at Apple Park yesterday. He explained that Apple wanted to create a place where people can go back and reference their previous chats with Siri. Apple ultimately determined that a dedicated app on the home screen made the most sense for this. Federighi's full comments: We see Siri not as a separate chatbot, just an unintegrated place you go and chit-chat, but rather as an integral, conversational tool that you use in the moment, deeply integrated into your experience. Understanding what's on screen, able to interface, not in some separate world, but directly in the document that you're editing and that you want help proofreading, that you want tips on. And so all these experiences are conversational. They are really an extension of your system experience, deeply integrated into your flow. Now, we did go back and forth on what's the best way, if you want to get back to such a chat that you had, because you want to continue it, you want to reference it, and quite honestly, in our platform, the most natural affordance for any user to go find something like that is to have an app that they can manage on their home screen, launch, and get back to. And so we have a Siri app, and that Siri app just re-embodies those capabilities of that core system experience. What do you think of Apple's change in strategy with iOS 27? Are you glad to have a Siri app icon on your home screen? Let us know down in the comments.

Craig Federighi on Siri AI: 'We see Siri not as a separate chatbot, but rather as an integral but conversational tool that you use in the moment, deeply integrated into your experience'

About a year ago I spoke with Apple's Craig Federighi after the WWDC 2025 keynote to talk about the Siri delay and at the time the senior vice president of software engineering seemed pretty adamant that Apple was not interested in building a chatbot. "Apple didn't want to send users off into some chat experience in order to get things done," Federighi told me. "We were very clear this wasn't about us building a chatbot. We want to bring intelligence deeply integrated into the experience of all of our platforms." Fast forward one year to WWDC 2026 and now Apple has unveiled the new Siri AI, which -- you guessed it -- has a dedicated app that some could perceive as a chatbot. But Federighi and other Apple executives here insisted during a press Q&A that Apple's focus has not changed. "We see Siri not as a separate chatbot, an unintegrated place you go and chitchat, but rather as an integral but conversational tool that you use in the moment," said Federighi. "It's deeply integrated into your experience, understanding what's on screen...And so while the experiences are conversational, they are really an extension of your system experience, deeply integrated into your flow." The new Siri AI in action A good example of the new Siri is what Mike Rockwell demoed during the Q&A session. The VP of Siri engineering asked what everyone was bringing to an upcoming potluck lunch, and Siri AI then gathered the info from separate text messages and showed it on screen. From there, Rockwell asked Siri what drinks would pair well with the food, and Siri went out to Apple's World Knowledge Service and found the info. He then swiped down to expand the window, and we were immediately brought to the Siri app, where you can scroll for more information. And then it's a conversation that you can return to in the Siri app whenever you want. "Now we did go back and forth on what's the best way if you want to get back to such a chat that you had," Federighi shared. "Because you want to continue it, you want to reference it, and quite honestly, the most natural affordance for any user to go find something like that is to have an app that they can manage on their home screen, launch, and get back to. And so we have a Siri app." A big focus on privacy Despite Apple partnering with Google to use some of its models, Apple execs insist that its Siri AI is private and no user information is shared. Craig Federighi showed how Apple's architecture is completely different that, say, how Google Gemini works. The architecture includes an on-device component that comprises a system orchestrator and Apple's AFM Core Advanced model, and there's there's models in the cloud, including AFM Cloud, AFM Cloud Pro and ADM Cloud (images), plus Apple's World Knowledge service. Apple's Private Cloud Compute still handles users' requests even when working with third parties like Google, and personal data is not stored nor made accessible to Apple or anyone else. "To bring this model to production, we worked with both Google and Nvidia to extend our private cloud compute infrastructure to Nvidia GPUs in Google's cloud, while maintaining Apple's unmatched privacy guarantees," said Sebastian Marineau-Mes, who runs the Apple Intelligence Experience team at Apple. And while other chatbots are exploring ads based on your interactions and personal context, you're not going to see that from Siri AI. "You are in control of your information, your information about how well Siri and Apple intelligence get to understand you and your preferences, your personal contacts," Rockwell said. "You're not going to see an ad from us coming based on, 'Hey, we noticed you like Thai food, here's some Thai food now.' You stay completely in control of your information at all times." Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Alternatively, you can read our content on the Tom's Guide app available now for iOS and Android. Subscribe to Tom's Guide on YouTube and follow us on TikTok. Finally, you can visit our dedicated Tom's Guide Savings Squad hub for expert help on getting the best products for less.