Apple’s Siri is getting a major makeover. The voice assistant that has lived in the background of iPhones for over a decade is finally becoming a standalone app with its own dedicated interface.
This marks a significant shift for Apple, which has traditionally kept Siri as a behind-the-scenes feature accessible through voice commands or button presses. The change reportedly comes as Apple faces pressure to compete with popular AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Google’s Bard that offer more conversational experiences.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is testing a standalone Siri app for iOS 27, along with a new “Ask Siri” feature that will work across Apple’s apps. The goal is to transform Siri from a simple voice assistant into something more like the conversational AI tools that have taken the tech world by storm.
The updated Siri will let users have ongoing conversations through both text and voice, similar to how people interact with ChatGPT or Claude. Users will be able to chat back and forth with Siri, maintaining context throughout the conversation rather than treating each request as a separate command.
The enhanced assistant will also tap into personal data to provide more helpful responses. This includes:
- Messages and email content
- Notes and documents
- App data for completing tasks within apps
- Web search capabilities
- News and current information
Apple plans to show off these new Siri features during its WWDC keynote on June 8, 2026. The company has already confirmed the event will highlight “AI advancements” across Apple platforms, though it hasn’t shared specifics yet.
This represents a major strategy change for Apple. Gurman notes that the company initially resisted turning Siri into a chatbot app, preferring to integrate the assistant deeper into existing apps and services. However, the explosive popularity of conversational AI tools, particularly on Android devices from Google and Samsung, appears to have pushed Apple to reconsider.
The move comes at a critical time for Apple’s AI strategy. While the company has long positioned Siri as a key differentiator for iPhones, the assistant has fallen behind newer AI tools in terms of conversational ability and general intelligence. A standalone app could help Apple better showcase Siri’s capabilities and provide a more direct competitor to the ChatGPT and Claude apps that millions of users have downloaded.
For iPhone users, this change could mean a more useful and engaging AI assistant that feels less like a simple voice command tool and more like a helpful AI companion. The ability to have natural conversations with Siri while accessing personal data could make the assistant significantly more practical for daily tasks.