Apple’s first public beta of iOS 27 is now available, bringing with it an early glimpse at the new Siri AI assistant on iPhones.
Apple made a developer beta of the major operating system update available shortly after WWDC last month, but the company now has a build that’s closer to public consumption. The iOS 27 public beta — along with updates for the rest of Apple’s ecosystem, including iPads and Macs — focuses a lot on performance improvements and customisation.
Theoretically, it should mean older devices run smoother. There’s also a big change coming to Apple’s suite of parental controls. But the headline feature is the addition of Siri AI, Apple’s chatbot-like revamp of its smart assistant.
Like the generative AI-based platforms offered by the likes of Google and Samsung, Siri AI is meant to be more capable at handling complex, multi-step queries. It’s also meant to answer specific questions based on your phone’s contents, like messages and emails.
Siri AI is only available to recent iPhone owners, however. Falling under the ‘Apple Intelligence’ banner, the feature requires an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16e or newer to work. Fortunately, the overall device improvements promised with iOS 27 are available for anyone with an iPhone 11, iPhone SE (2020), and anything more recent.
If you’re keen to try the iOS 27 beta, back up your device first, and then follow the instructions on Apple’s website. Otherwise, the full release will likely arrive in September, when Apple traditionally launches its latest iPhones.
Previewing Siri AI via the iOS 27 beta
I’ve tried Siri AI for a few weeks via the iOS 27 developer beta, and it’s an improvement from the original Siri. Apple’s digital assistant understands my Aussie accent better, plus it was able to find a specific email from my mum without me needing to open the app.
It still has some awkward moments, though. When I tried to ask Siri what the weather was for the next game of footy at Adelaide Oval, it got the date and the teams correct, but couldn’t source Saturday’s weather, despite it being available. Next time I asked, Siri said it could fetch the weather, but didn’t know who was playing or when.
Third time’s the charm, though, as another attempt proved successful. Siri correctly identified Saturday’s game as being between Port Adelaide and Fremantle, along with the latest weather forecast. It was a relatively low-stakes example and showed that there’s still a bit to iron out, but even with some hiccups, Siri AI was better at collecting information from multiple sources than the older version.
My experience was similar to that of tech reporter and creator Joanna Stern’s, where she noticed a processing delay between queries. Each time I asked a question, Siri had to think for a few seconds before responding. Whether this is because of the beta status or a result of most processing taking place on-device, I’m not sure. I’ll have to wait a couple of months to know for sure.
Best of all? Apple’s AI stuff is largely opt-in and easily ignored if you don’t want to use it.
The post First iOS 27 public beta is now live, previewing major Siri AI update appeared first on GadgetGuy.
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