Siri with improved Apple Intelligence will be released only with iOS 18.5 in May, ─ Mark Gurman

In the «disappointing but not surprising» category, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that the updated version of Siri probably won’t be fully ready for the release of iOS 18.4, which is due out soon.

Apple announced three key Siri updates during the WWDC 2024 conference last June:

1. Understanding the personal context

Thanks to Apple Intelligence’s local semantic index, Siri will be able to recognize data from email, messages, photos, calendar, files, and other sources. The assistant will be able to answer personalized queries, for example:

• «What was the name of the movie Jamie recommended last week?» – Siri will find the relevant message.
• «Add my passport number here» – Siri will extract the number from the saved passport photo and insert it into the form.

2. Recognize content on the screen

Siri will be able to analyze the content on the screen and interact with it. For example, if a friend sends a message with a recommendation for a new coffee shop, you can simply ask:

• «How long will it take to walk there from home?» – and Siri will understand the context of the query.

3. Perform actions in applications

Siri will be able to execute hundreds of new commands in both native and third-party apps. Example:

• «Make this photo warmer» – Siri will change the settings in the app «Photo».
• «Add this photo to my ratatouille recipe» – Siri will open «Notes» and execute the command.

According to Gurman, due to software bugs, the release of the updated Siri may be postponed or limited «or». Initially, the updated assistant was scheduled to launch in April 2025 with iOS 18.4. But now, most likely, it will take place no earlier than May and the release of iOS 18.5. At least, this will apply to some functions.

Inside Apple, many employees are testing the new version of Siri. It turned out that the new features are still unstable, and the critical time for the software to be ready is approaching. iOS 18.4 will be released in April, but its beta version for developers may appear as early as next week. If Apple doesn’t fix the bugs in time, some of the updates will be pushed to iOS 18.5.

Earlier, we were promised that Apple Intelligence will support additional languages in April.

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Source: 9to5mac