iOS 18 (and AI) will give Siri much more control over your apps

Apple is planning a major AI upgrade for Siri, and it could let you control specific iPhone app features with your voice, according to a report of Bloomberg. The revamped Siri will arrive next year as an update to iOS 18.

As noted by Bloomberg, the update will allow Siri to analyze activity on your phone while automatically enabling Siri-controlled features. For starters, you’ll only be able to use Siri to control features in Apple-made apps, but the company plans to support “hundreds” of commands in its apps, Bloomberg reports.

Siri will only be able to process one command at a time. However, Apple will eventually allow Siri to handle multiple tasks in a single request, such as asking Siri to summarize a recorded meeting and then sending it to a friend, according to Bloomberg.

This sounds a bit like what Samsung promised when it launched Bixby in 2017, saying “everything you can do with touch, you can do with voice” in Samsung apps. It’s unclear exactly how the technology will work, but a recent demonstration from Microsoft showed how its GPT-4o-equipped Copilot assistant could watch the screen to do things like give tips on how to play games. Minecraft.

Last month, Bloomberg reported that Apple will focus on handling many on-device AI requests. It could process simpler commands on the iPhone while fetching more complex requests from the cloud. Rumor has it that OpenAI has struck a deal with Apple and that Apple will promote the security of its cloud processing using M2 Ultra chips with its Secure Enclave, letting users know that data processed remotely is as secure as when it is in your devices.

Even if a new Siri doesn’t arrive until next year, we’ll get an idea of ​​what Apple is working on during WWDC on June 10.