Siri has always been lame — until now. Here's how to make the latest version pay off.

After more than a decade of jokes, false promises, and disappointments, Apple’s Siri is finally worth the hype. The latest version brings a bunch of new capabilities to iPhone, thanks to Apple Intelligence. Here’s what it can do and how you can enable it on your device — if you meet the requirements.

The new Siri isn’t just marketing fluff or corporate spin. It’s real. I’ve used it for more than a week, and I’ve come away impressed. Granted, Siri isn’t perfect. It makes mistakes, just like any other AI chatbot from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. But compared to the old Siri that sometimes struggled with basic facts, the new version is light-years ahead. It’s even good enough to replace some interactions you might have with bots from the competition.

This is a huge leap forward.

The new Siri is included with iOS 27 on supported devices. The catch, though, is that it’s not enabled by default. In fact, if you want to use the new Siri, you’ll have to sign up and spend time on a digital waiting list.

I signed up during the public beta, and I only had to wait about 10 minutes. Now that iOS 27 is out for everyone, though, wait times can stretch out to several days to several weeks. So for those interested in the new Siri, you’ll want to sign up as soon as possible.

Getting on the list is simple. Open the Settings app, tap “Siri,” then select “Try Siri AI (Beta),” and you’re in the queue. That’s it.

Old Siri (Left), New Siri (Right)/Apple

Once approved, the Siri Settings page will have a new interface with new voice options that are fully customizable to build the ideal-sounding digital assistant for fielding questions and queries.

You’ll also find a new Siri app on your home screen. It functions similarly to other AI chatbot apps that you may have used in the past. There’s an option to type questions to Siri or review past conversations for reference or posterity.

Finally, you can access Siri by writing queries in Spotlight (the search bar that pops out when you swipe down from the middle of Home Screen) or using voice commands by holding the power button on the side. You can even ask Siri about something on your screen, it will analyze the data, and give you more information in real time.

Perhaps the most impressive part, though, is that Siri is actually useful now. It knows facts, draws on current events, and understands complex data, all powered by Apple Foundation Models, which are essentially custom Google Gemini models with revised training data running on Apple Silicon.

Confusing, I know.

Of course, none of Siri’s new capabilities are all that new for Android users who have had Gemini for the last couple of years, but on iPhone, this is a huge leap forward for a previously addled Siri. There’s also something Siri can do that no other chatbot can — maintain your privacy.

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martin-dm/Getty Images

The new Siri combines local data processing with Private Cloud Compute, a system that anonymizes queries by removing customer metadata and IP address information to mask users’ identities. The entire process is complex, but ultimately, all queries that can’t be conducted on-device are encrypted and sent to a Private Cloud Compute.

They’re used only to complete a specific task as requested by the user, and then they are promptly deleted from the system. Queries aren’t gathered and saved as training data, and Apple claims that no one — not even an Apple employee — can access them.

Here’s the bad news for anyone interested in trying out the new Siri on iPhone. The new models require cutting-edge hardware. That means you need an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max and up, an iPad mini with an A17 Pro chip and up, an iPad with an M1 series chip and up, or a Mac with an Apple Silicon M1 chip and up.

Even more devices can download the latest iOS 27 update, but only a select few can use Apple Intelligence and the new Siri to its fullest extent.

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