Apple Plans Autonomous Siri AI Overhaul for iOS 28
Apple plans a major Siri upgrade to transform its voice assistant into an autonomous AI agent that can complete tasks independently.
The company wants Siri to move beyond responding to individual commands. Instead, Apple aims to let users delegate tasks that the assistant can manage across applications and services.
The proposed changes could bring Siri closer to competing AI agents from OpenAI, Meta and xAI. Moreover, the initiative reflects Apple’s growing focus on agentic AI as competition intensifies across the technology industry.
Apple is also adjusting its software development process. The company is reportedly revising its engineering timelines to accelerate feature development for iOS 28 and iPadOS 28.
Siri Moves Towards Autonomous AI Capabilities
Apple’s longer-term objective is to turn Siri into an AI agent that can understand goals, plan actions and complete multi-step tasks.
Currently, Siri supports selected actions within Apple’s applications and certain third-party services. For example, users can ask it to draft messages, prepare emails, create reminders and manage calendar events.
However, these capabilities still require considerable user direction. The planned upgrade aims to give Siri greater autonomy when handling ongoing tasks.
According to reported development plans, Apple wants users to delegate activities without repeatedly instructing the assistant. As a result, Siri could monitor progress, determine the next steps, and keep working toward a requested outcome.
Potential capabilities include:
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Task management: Organising and completing multi-step activities.
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Application control: Performing actions across supported third-party applications.
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Background assistance: Continuing delegated tasks without repeated user prompts.
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Personal productivity: Managing reminders, communications and everyday activities.
Apple also wants Siri to compete with AI agents such as OpenAI’s Dots, Meta’s Muse, and xAI’s Grok. These platforms increasingly focus on background assistance, connected applications and autonomous task execution.
Apple Expands Siri’s Control Across Applications
Apple has already started expanding Siri’s ability to interact with applications. The upcoming software development programme reportedly includes more advanced in-app actions.
For example, future versions could let Siri edit photographs, organise Safari tabs, and complete activities across different apps.
Additionally, Apple is reportedly working on broader integration with third-party apps. This could eventually allow users to request activities such as ordering food or arranging bookings through voice instructions.
The proposed direction would make Siri more useful for everyday tasks. Rather than simply answering questions, the assistant could coordinate several actions to achieve a specific result.
However, Apple has not confirmed the complete feature set or release schedule for these capabilities.
iOS 28 Development Gets a New Engineering Approach
Alongside the Siri overhaul, Apple is reportedly changing how its software engineers develop upcoming operating systems.
The revised development process reportedly divides operating system development into three stages: M1, M2 and M3. Each stage spans eight weeks.
Under the proposed approach, engineers will spend six weeks developing and testing features during the initial M1 stage. Previously, the company followed shorter four-week development cycles.
The remaining two weeks will focus on integrating features and preparing them for the next development stage.
This adjustment could give engineering teams more time to explore ideas and develop complex features. Meanwhile, structured integration periods could help Apple manage software development more effectively.
The changes will affect development plans for iOS 28 and iPadOS 28. Apple is expected to reveal the next generation of its operating system at WWDC 2027.
Ultimately, the Siri overhaul signals Apple’s intention to compete more directly in the autonomous AI assistant market. As AI agents become more capable, Apple is working to make Siri a system that understands requests, coordinates applications and completes tasks with greater independence.
