Apple’s Overhauled Siri Set for 2026 Launch with Powerful App Intents for Hands-Free iPhone Control

Apple is gearing up to release a major Siri upgrade next spring, aiming to transform its voice assistant into a more capable, hands-free controller for the iPhone. The revamped Siri, first teased at the company’s WWDC 2024 event, was initially expected to arrive alongside the iPhone launch last September but faced multiple delays.

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the new Siri will feature an upgraded version of App Intents—a technology designed to let users perform complex, app-specific actions entirely through voice commands. The enhancement could see Siri evolve from a basic query responder into a tool that can handle nuanced, multi-step interactions inside apps.

With App Intents, users will be able to tell Siri to execute tasks like locating a specific photo, editing it, and sending it to a contact—without touching the device. It will also enable more advanced actions, such as commenting on an Instagram post, scrolling through a shopping app, and adding items to a cart. Essentially, Siri will be able to navigate and operate within app interfaces much like a human user would.

Apple’s global data operations team is prioritizing the development and testing of this feature to ensure it performs with a high degree of accuracy. However, engineers are reportedly encountering challenges in ensuring compatibility across a broad range of apps and in maintaining the precision required for sensitive scenarios.

“The worry is that the new software might fail in categories where precision is non-negotiable such as health or banking apps,” the report notes. Given these stakes, Apple is considering limiting Siri’s functionality in certain high-risk areas, or excluding them from the feature set entirely, at least initially.

To refine the experience, Apple is running trials with a selection of third-party apps—including Uber, AllTrails, Threads, Temu, Amazon, YouTube, Facebook, WhatsApp, and various games—alongside its own native applications. This controlled rollout strategy reflects the company’s intent to get it right before making the upgrade available to all users.

Mark Gurman’s report emphasizes that the aim is to make Siri “the hands-free controller of your iPhone,” providing a level of convenience and multitasking potential that goes far beyond its current capabilities. But this leap in functionality also demands more rigorous testing than any Siri update to date.

For now, users will need to wait until spring 2026 to experience the new Siri firsthand. When it does arrive, it promises to blur the line between human and device interaction—delivering a smoother, more intuitive way to get things done without lifting a finger.