Siri AI hands-on: Apple's new iPhone assistant and 7 features to try in the iOS 27 beta

What's going on

With the public beta of iOS 27, Apple has introduced a fundamentally new version of its assistant, officially called "Siri AI." Siri is now a standalone app, and its abilities are also built into many system apps, including Notes, Calendar, Reminders, Photos, Shortcuts and Camera. Mashable calls the new Siri genuinely smarter, but criticizes the confusing naming. Because individual features are embedded in other apps, it's also harder to find your way around, the site says.

According to Apple's Japanese newsroom, as cited by a blog on note.com, Siri AI was enabled in additional languages on October 26, 2026 with software update 27.2. The new languages are Japanese, French, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish. The feature is available as a beta on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS and visionOS 27.2.

The tech behind it

The new Siri runs on the "Apple Foundation Model." Apple says this model was developed in collaboration with Google and its Gemini. Yahoo Tech (Tom's Guide) writes that Apple's AI has caught up "with a little help from Google's Gemini." Processing happens on the device and in Apple's "Private Cloud Compute," a server network that, according to Apple, doesn't store personal data.

Apple names three core capabilities:

• Personal context: Siri searches your messages, emails and photos for information.
• On-screen awareness: You can ask questions about what's currently on the display, or have Siri perform tasks based on it.
• Web knowledge: Siri also answers general questions with information from the web.

Follow-up questions work. The conversation history stays in the Siri app and syncs with your other Apple devices via iCloud. Siri can also operate compatible apps. Yahoo! Transit is one example Apple mentions.

What you can try

The Siri app. It looks a lot like ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini: you see a grid of past conversations and start new ones by voice or keyboard. According to Mashable, more complex questions work too, such as questions about sports tournaments, as well as personal questions about your emails, notes and appointments.

Visual Intelligence. Press and hold the side button to ask Siri about what's currently on screen, for example the name of a show in a YouTube clip. In the "Siri" camera mode, you point the lens at something and get information about it. Tom's Guide gives examples such as translating a menu or getting nutritional information for a dish.

Image Playground. Until now it only produced cartoon-style images. According to Mashable, it can now create realistic photos, such as cityscapes or a bear dancing on a block of cheese. You can change results with a follow-up prompt, for instance to add a sign. Mashable stresses that it isn't the most advanced image generation, but it is the most convenient.

Photo editing. Under "Tools," there are three options. "Clean Up" removes distracting objects and already existed. New are "Extend," which uses AI to fill in the edges of an image when you zoom out, and "Reframe," which changes the perspective after the fact. According to Mashable, neither always works, but when they do, they feel "a little bit magical." For Reframe, the author advises using only photos that really need it.

Writing with Siri. In Notes, "Write with Siri" appears above the keyboard. You describe what you need, such as a trip summary, and Siri writes the text. You can have selected text turned into a matching image, or have math problems solved. According to Apple, you can draft or rewrite text in almost any text-entry situation. In Mail, Apple says drafts are written in your usual tone for each recipient.

Calendar, Reminders, Shortcuts. Natural language like "Dinner with my wife at Joe's tomorrow at 7 p.m." automatically picks up contacts, place and time. In Reminders, location, time and date are filled in the same way. In Shortcuts, you describe what should happen, such as an audible announcement when the battery hits 90 percent, and the automation builds itself.

Calendar in detail

BGR tested the calendar features more closely. Siri finds events from a single detail such as the inviter, location or part of a name. Events can be renamed, moved, given a location or description, made all-day or recurring, and moved to other calendars. Sometimes you have to confirm the change. Siri can also find free slots and tell you when you need to leave, as long as the event has a location.

"Add this event" works with on-screen content. In camera mode, an "Add to Calendar" button appears when you point at a poster. BGR says it pulled 22 events from a concert poster. A Reddit user reportedly imported about ten daycare dates. According to BGR, adding several events at once works best in the Camera app and less well in the Siri app or via voice.

Tom's Guide lists more examples: Siri finds a Spotify link a friend recommended in a group chat, shows your week's appointments, and searches for photos ("all photos from the beach in Altea") or files across iPhone, iPad and Mac. At the time of testing, WhatsApp had not yet been adapted for Siri AI.

Limits and availability

• Region: According to Mashable, almost none of this is available in China and Europe. The problem in China appears to be resolved, and there's no timeline for Europe. According to Apple, Siri AI is missing in the EU on iOS, iPadOS and watchOS.
• Limit: There's a daily usage limit. More usage is expected to cost money in future.
• Age: Not available to users under 13.
• Setup: You have to turn on Siri AI in Settings. According to Tom's Guide, indexing your app data can take several hours. Each calendar has to be enabled individually.
• Devices: You need devices with Apple Intelligence enabled and a supported language. According to note.com, the announcement doesn't say exactly which models qualify.
• Beta: Check important emails yourself before sending. On company phones, internal rules may apply because Siri searches personal messages and photos.

Our take

For iPhone users, this is the biggest Siri overhaul since 2011. The advantage over ChatGPT or Gemini is system integration: no copying and pasting, plus access to your calendar, mail and photos. Tom's Guide does concede that much of this has been possible on Gemini devices for some time. Mashable doesn't see the image generation as best in class. Still open are the price and scope of the limit, the EU launch date and how reliable it is outside of testing. All claims about the data security of Private Cloud Compute come from the manufacturer. The reports cited mostly come from short tests with beta software.