Three major Siri upgrades are coming very soon, here’s what they are – 9to5Mac

Apple released the release candidate builds of iOS 18.3 earlier this week, meaning that we’re just days away from seeing that update ship to the public. That also means iOS 18.4 beta is just around the corner, which is widely expected to include some of the big Siri improvements with Apple Intelligence. Here’s what we’re expecting with Siri in iOS 18.4.While there have been many Siri improvements so far in iOS 18, the “intelligent” features haven’t yet shipped. Here’s whats new so far:These are all great improvements, but this is just the beginning, and Apple still has more in store for Siri.iOS 18.4, provided there aren’t any last minute delays, will include some of Apple’s bigger promises for Apple Intelligence and Siri. With these features, Siri will become truly intelligent, presuming Apple lives up to its promises.There’ll be three major Siri upgrades in iOS 18.4: personal context, on screen awareness, and the ability to take action in apps. Here’s how Apple describes each of these features:Personal context:Awareness of your personal context enables Siri to help you in ways that are unique to you. Can’t remember if a friend shared that recipe with you in a note, a text, or an email? Need your passport number while booking a flight? Siri can use its knowledge of the information on your device to help find what you’re looking for, without compromising your privacy.On-screen awareness:Apple Intelligence empowers Siri with onscreen awareness, so it can understand and take action with things on your screen. If a friend texts you their new address, you can say “Add this address to their contact card,” and Siri will take care of it.Taking action in apps:Seamlessly take action in and across apps with Siri. You can make a request like “Send the email I drafted to April and Lilly” and Siri knows which email you’re referencing and which app it’s in. And Siri can take actions across apps, so after you ask Siri to enhance a photo for you by saying “Make this photo pop,” you can ask Siri to drop it in a specific note in the Notes app — without lifting a finger.With these three features, Siri will finally be able to live up to the promise of being your personal assistant. Third party apps will also be able to support these abilities, and many apps have been rolling out support for Siri integration since iOS 18 debuted in September.While not officially announced, iOS 19 is rumored to include another large upgrade to Siri, allowing users to be more conversational with the assistant, similar to a chatbot like ChatGPT. Bloomberg reports that this feature won’t release until spring 2026, meaning it’s still around a year away.According to the report, ‘LLM Siri’ will be able to “allow for back-and-forth conversations”, and “handle more sophisticated requests in a quicker fashion.”While I’m not a huge fan of Apple unveiling software features over 9 months before they’ll release to the public, I can’t say this wasn’t worth the wait. If Apple’s Siri revamp lives up to its promises, it will be rather remarkable.Siri has fallen as far behind as OS9 was when Apple finally abandoned it. If they cannot make it and HomeKit competitive by the next major release they might as well do the same and purchase a competitor to slot in instead. Sad. iOS 18.4 beta will likely be available in the coming weeks, with a public release anticipated sometime in the spring, likely around April.What do you think about the iOS 18.4 Siri upgrades? Let us know in the comments.My favorite iPhone accessories on Amazon:Follow Michael: X/Twitter, Bluesky, InstagramFTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:Michael is 9to5Mac’s Weekend Editor, keeping up with all of the latest Apple news on Saturday and Sunday. He got started in the world of Apple news during the pandemic, and it became a growing hobby. He’s also an indie iOS developer in his free time, and has published numerous apps over the years.Manage push notifications

Source: https://9to5mac.com/2025/01/25/new-siri-coming-soon-ios-18-4/