Key takeaways

  • Apple opened a Siri AI developer preview on November 3 in the iOS 27.3, iPadOS 27.3, macOS 27.3 and visionOS 27.3 betas.
  • Apps connect through App Intents, with new Skills to chain actions and a Spotlight semantic index.
  • Siri AI ships to customers in a few months, App Store submission opens in the spring, and it is not available in the EU on iOS.

Apple opened a Siri AI developer preview on November 3, so any developer can now connect an app to the new Siri. The announcement says the preview runs on the iOS 27.3, iPadOS 27.3, macOS 27.3 and visionOS 27.3 betas, with watchOS 27.3 also listed as a beta.

Apps plug in through App Intents. Apple says that gives Siri AI access to personal context, onscreen awareness and natural-language requests. Its examples of custom actions are checking a delivery, booking a reservation and placing an order. Our earlier Siri AI article has more on the rollout.

What developers get

Two additions stand out. Skills let Siri AI chain several actions from an app into one experience for a complex request. The Spotlight semantic index lets Siri AI surface any entity in the index, not only ones that match an existing schema.

Apple is rolling the same abilities out in its own apps: Calendar, Files, Finder, Journal, Mail, Maps, Messages, Music, Notes, Photos, Preview, Reminders, Safari, Shortcuts and Weather.

Timeline and limits

This is early access. Apple says Siri AI ships to customers "in a few months," and App Store submission opens in the spring.

  • It needs an Apple Intelligence device set to a supported language: English, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese or Spanish. Traditional Chinese, Norwegian, Turkish and Vietnamese are listed as coming soon.
  • It is not available in the EU on iOS, iPadOS or watchOS, and not to users under 13.
  • Server-side features, Siri AI included, have daily limits that vary with the feature, the request and demand. Apple says expanded access will cost money in the future.
  • Apple will publish terms and usage policies for Siri AI experiences later.

How to start

Apple points developers to its Siri AI Developer Preview documentation under App Intents, and to two Apple Intelligence Group Labs sessions: November 4 at 9 a.m. Pacific and November 5 at 6 p.m. Pacific.

The open questions are the price of expanded access and the final usage terms. Both will shape whether apps build much on it before spring.

Sources

  1. Siri AI is now open to all developersApple Developer