Apple will revamp Siri and AI features in iOS 27: see a first look

(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc.’s long-awaited revamp of Siri is poised to become the main focus of upcoming software updates for iPhone, iPad and Mac — and Bloomberg News is offering the first look at what the new digital assistant will look like.

Illustrations created by Bloomberg show Siri’s redesigned interface, a new chatbot-style app and other important iOS 27 changes that the company plans to announce at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 8. The images are based on information seen by Bloomberg and people familiar with the company’s plans, who requested anonymity because the software is not yet public.

An Apple spokesperson declined to comment. The company often tests various feature designs internally, and the final version that will be presented to the public in June may be different.

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Key Speakers at Apple WWDC

Attendees watch last year’s WWDC, where the company announced major new AI capabilities. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

The launch is set to be a defining moment in Apple’s artificial intelligence strategy, as the company races to catch up to rivals such as OpenAI, Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Samsung Electronics Co. It’s something that has been in the works for a long time. Apple even previewed some of this technology in 2024, but suffered a series of delays that put it further behind the competition and damaged its reputation. The company has spent the last year rebuilding parts of the assistant and rethinking its broader approach to AI.

The redesign of Siri — the biggest in the assistant’s almost 15-year history — will be released to consumers in September. It’s likely to be Chief Executive Tim Cook’s last major product launch before he passes leadership to veteran hardware chief John Ternus. The success — or failure — of the new AI features will also help determine consumer reaction to this fall’s iPhone 18 Pro lineup and Apple’s first foldable iPhone.

The new Siri will include delayed features announced in 2024, such as the ability to understand personal data and analyze content displayed on the screen. But these capabilities are just one part of a broader wave of improvements: a rebuilt model that uses Google Gemini technology, AI-powered web search, and a completely redesigned interface. There will also be a dedicated Siri app, designed to compete more directly with ChatGPT and other AI assistants.

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In addition to Siri and AI, Apple’s upcoming operating systems aim to fix bugs and refine last year’s controversial design changes called Liquid Glass, while also adding new features like a more customizable Camera app. The company also plans to offer the ability to create personalized passes in the Wallet app, such as for sporting events or gyms.

Apple redesigned Siri for modern iPhone hardware, making her “live” within Dynamic Island as an always-on agent capable of helping users perform tasks across the operating system and within apps. The system can draw on web data, personal information, and what’s on the user’s screen to complete tasks.

There are two starting points for Siri. The classic approach — saying “Siri” or holding down the iPhone’s power button — now triggers a redesigned Siri animation in Dynamic Island, the pill-shaped element introduced in 2022. This mode is best suited for voice queries and searches.

The second method is entirely new: Apple plans to let users swipe down from the top center of the iPhone, anywhere on the system, to open a new Search or Ask interface. (Notification Center can now be opened by swiping down from the top left.) This opens a revamped Siri experience, geared toward completing tasks or searching by typing — although using your voice remains an option.

This menu also displays the same interface present in current iOS that shows Siri Suggestions. This includes eight frequently used apps, functions like recent web searches, or features like recording a voice memo. There is also a panel to display the morning or evening weather forecast.

From there, users can open apps, start text messages, ask about the weather forecast, add appointments to the calendar, search notes, trigger shortcuts within apps or search the web using Apple’s new AI search system, which competes with tools like Perplexity. The results are displayed on a rich text card that “pops out” from the Dynamic Island. Users can swipe down further to open a chatbot-style conversation within the Siri app.

Apple has also been testing ways to open iOS 27 to third-party AI agents installed via the App Store. The company already has a partnership with ChatGPT, from OpenAI, and has internally tested integrations of Siri and other AI resources with Gemini, from Google, and Claude, from Anthropic PBC. Users will be able to route queries directly to external AI services from the Search or Ask interface. There is a button that provides a drop-down menu with external agent options.

The new Siri app itself looks and works similar to apps like Claude, Gemini and ChatGPT. The home screen includes a history of past conversations, so users can go back to past chats. This can be seen as both a list and a collection of rectangles that summarize past conversations. And the conversational interface offers a voice mode, a text field, and an attachment selector for sending documents and photos, used for context and for analysis.

When users ask for information, Siri presents rich text cards and results for topics like people, places, and news headlines. Similar cards also appear for weather forecasts and sports scores, as well as results pulled from the user’s own data, including notes, text messages, emails, contacts, calendar appointments and reminders.

Siri will also get smarter. In the interface planned by Apple, it will be possible to ask it to indicate times when you are available for appointments before scheduling something, as well as point out overlapping events. It will also be possible to ask the assistant to compose emails, notes or text messages using information from the web and the device’s content. This could include, for example, asking to create a note about fixing a car engine or an email with your calendar availability.

Apple is also integrating Siri into the Camera app as a dedicated mode, alongside existing options like photo and video. The feature would replace the current experience called Visual Intelligence and allow users to take photos and submit them for analysis by a third-party AI agent or a Google reverse image search. Bringing this feature into the Camera app — rather than limiting it to the Camera Control button — could increase adoption and help get users accustomed to visual AI, setting the stage for future products like smart glasses and camera-enabled AirPods.

The Camera app is also becoming more customizable, thanks to a new Add Widgets panel. The top row of shortcuts, which currently appear in capture modes, may be replaced, allowing users to prioritize more professional controls, such as depth adjustments, or highlight tools such as timers and Night mode more prominently in the interface. The changes are aimed at making Apple’s camera software more appealing to advanced photographers.

The company is also bringing more Apple Intelligence features to the Photos app, including new tools called Reframe and Extend. Reframe can change the perspective of a photo, while Extend uses AI to generate additional parts of the image. This may mean filling in the bottom half of a building that was left out of the original photo. Rival platforms from Google and others have offered similar capabilities for years.

While it may not make it to the first version of iOS 27, Apple is also testing natural language command-based photo editing, so you can ask, via voice or text, for specific edits, like cropping the image or changing colors.

Additionally, the company plans a redesigned Shortcuts app, which will allow you to create automations using natural language. Instead of manually building workflows step by step, users could describe what they want to happen — for example, automatically starting a music playlist and sending their spouse an estimated time of arrival (ETA) when they get in the car and start driving home from work.

There are also AI-created wallpapers, a system-wide grammar checker for text input, and a redesigned Image Playground app that offers improved quality for AI-generated images and Genmoji (custom emojis), Bloomberg News reported.

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