Siri Enhancements
Siri Enhancements add typing to Siri, context awareness, and multi-app action capabilities to Apple Intelligence-powered Siri.
Why It Exists
Traditional voice-only Siri limits usability in quiet environments and lacks context awareness. Siri Enhancements expand Siri usage to typing, visual context understanding, and complex multi-app workflows.
How It Works
Siri Enhancements bring new capabilities to Siri through Apple Intelligence, including the ability to type requests, understand on-screen context, and perform complex multi-step actions across apps. Users can now type to Siri in addition to speaking, making it more suitable for private or noisy environments. Siri can read and understand content displayed on-screen, allowing it to provide contextual help based on what the user is currently viewing. Enhanced Siri can also perform multi-app workflows through improved App Intents APIs.
Everyday Use Cases
- Type a request to Siri in a library or meeting
- Ask Siri to help with content you are viewing on-screen
- Create a multi-step workflow involving several apps
- Use Siri to edit a document and send it via Messages
User Workflow
- Activate Siri via Side Button or keyboard shortcut
- Choose to type or speak
- If typing, enter request in the text field
- Siri processes the request with on-device or cloud assistance
- Review and interact with the results
- Refine or accept the response
AI Processing Flow
On-device Apple Intelligence model handles typed requests, on-screen content analysis, and context awareness using the Apple Neural Engine. Complex actions involving multiple apps are coordinated via enhanced App Intents APIs, with cloud processing for difficult queries via Private Cloud Compute.
Inputs / Outputs
Inputs:
- Typed text input
- On-screen visual context
- App context
- User preferences and history
- Multi-app workflow state
Outputs:
- Text responses
- Voice responses
- App actions and workflows
- Visual results and suggestions
Known Limitations
- Requires iOS 18.1 or later
- Requires A17 Pro or M-series chip
- Typing to Siri not available on all devices
Unsupported Scenarios
- Cannot access on-screen content from apps that disable screen capture
- Limited App Intents support in third-party apps
- Some features region-restricted
Performance Notes
Typed requests are processed as fast as or faster than voice requests. On-screen analysis adds minimal latency. Multi-app workflows may take longer depending on complexity.
Available On
Shows where this feature is available and how its AI processing works on each platform. Availability may vary by device.
| Platform | Execution | Offline | Cloud | OS / Software |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Intelligence | Hybrid | Partial | Partial | iOS 18.1+ (iPhone 15 Pro/16+), iPadOS 18.1+ (M2/M3 iPad+), macOS 15.1+ (M-series Mac+) |
Research Status
Confidence and verification reflect how complete documentation is. Fields may show Not assessed or Not yet verified while research is ongoing - this flags gaps, not product deficiencies.
| Research Status | Verified |
| Confidence | High |
| First introduced | 2024-09-09 |
| Last updated | 2026-08-16 |
| Last verified | 2026-08-16 |
Research Notes
Source: Apple Developer Documentation / WWDC 2024. Siri Enhancements are part of Apple Intelligence, available on iOS 18.1 and later. Requires A17 Pro or M-series chip for on-device processing.
Details
| Vendor | Apple |
| AI Platform | Apple Intelligence |
| Category | Assistant |
Capability Mapping
This feature maps to canonical capability family: Assistant.
Canonical capability: Assistant Access.
- Assistant Access - General access to assistant experience without a specific task outcome.
Grounded in 3 device(s) on Apple Intelligence.
This page describes platform-level capability; not device-level support for any specific product.