Bloomberg News reporter Mark Gurman reports that Apple not only plans to launch a dedicated standalone app for Siri, but will also introduce a brand-new "Ask Siri" interaction button. This change means that Siri will be completely transformed into something similar to ChatGPT or Google Gemini.Generative AI chatbot typeIt supports more natural text and voice conversations and can deeply access users' emails, text messages, and notes.
"Ask Siri": From Command-Driven to Conversation-Driven
For a long time, Siri's interaction mode has been mostly limited to one-way command execution. Although Apple Intelligence has made initial progress in improving its understanding, it still appears stiff compared to its competitors.
According to Mark Gurman, the "Ask Siri" feature expected to be introduced in iOS 27 and macOS 27 will allow users to engage in continuous conversations using natural language (whether voice or text input). This is not just a change in interface, but also an underlying technology that empowers Siri with cross-app functionality.
• In-depth data review:Siri can answer questions that provide context, such as "Where did I meet with my client last time?", based on the content of the user's emails, text messages, and memos.
• In-app action execution:In addition to querying information, Siri is expected to be able to complete specific tasks directly in third-party apps, such as "book a flight to New York for me in a ticketing app".
• Enhanced web search:It integrates news access with real-time web page retrieval, providing more timely answers.
Standalone Apps Emerge: Siri's Rise in Status and Ecosystem Integration
Making Siri a standalone app is a major change in Apple's software architecture. It means that Siri is no longer just a floating ball at the system level, but a computing hub with complete conversation history, multimodal input, and personalized settings.
It's worth noting that Apple has previously officially confirmed its collaboration with Google, using Google Gemini as the underlying generative computing power for the next-generation Siri. This model, where "Apple is responsible for privacy and local processing, while Google is responsible for the cloud-based brain," demonstrates that Apple is adopting a more pragmatic strategy, given the slow progress of its self-developed models, and is striving to deliver results on time at WWDC 2026.
WWDC 2026 will be a key battleground.
Despite numerous delays in Siri's development over the past two months, WWDC 2026, held from June 8th to 12th, is still considered the debut stage for the new Siri. If Apple can demonstrate the seamless integration of the "Ask Siri" button with the standalone app as scheduled, it will significantly boost market confidence in the hardware upgrade of the iPhone 18 (tentative name) to be launched in the fall.
