Apple released the first public beta of iOS 27 on July 13, giving anyone with a compatible iPhone free access to the biggest Siri overhaul the company has ever shipped.
With roughly 2.5 billion active Apple devices in use worldwide, even a modest beta install rate makes this the largest real-world test yet of Apple’s answer to ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, months ahead of the official release expected in September.
What’s actually different about the new Siri
The new Siri can search a user’s own Mail, Messages, Notes, Reminders, and Calendar, understand what’s currently on screen, and ground its answers in general world knowledge the way any modern AI chatbot does, a sharp departure from the command-based assistant Siri has been for over a decade.
Access points multiplied too: the usual “Hey Siri” and side-button triggers still work, alongside swiping down from the Dynamic Island, a dedicated standalone Siri app with iCloud-synced conversation history, and direct integration into Spotlight search.
The upgraded assistant extends across iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, CarPlay, AirPods, Apple TV, and Vision Pro. Underneath it runs on Apple’s new on-device Foundation Models, developed using a distillation process built on Google’s Gemini but customized specifically for Apple Silicon, paired with Private Cloud Compute to keep personal data off Apple’s servers for anything that needs cloud processing.
None of this is universally available yet: Siri AI sits behind a waitlist even inside the public beta, requires an iPhone 15 Pro or newer for the baseline experience and an iPhone 17 Pro, Pro Max, or Air for the most advanced on-device features, and remains unavailable in the EU and China at launch, with Apple citing the EU’s Digital Markets Act as a factor there.
How it’s actually performing in early testing
Hands-on impressions so far land closer to “solid but unremarkable” than “revolutionary.”
TechCrunch’s early testing found real improvements, locating specific photos, summarizing group texts, pulling an appointment out of a text message and onto the calendar, and answering questions that used to require a web search, alongside real mistakes, including one instance where asking for news about Iran instead triggered a search through the user’s own contacts.
Engadget’s independent review echoed that mixed picture, describing the new Siri as practical rather than flashy, genuinely useful for everyday friction points like setting timers or parsing a calendar widget, but still inconsistent with third-party apps, requiring Apple’s own native Mail app rather than Gmail to reliably surface delivery notifications, for instance.
Both outlets noted this year’s beta cycle has been more stable than past cycles, which is part of why Apple felt comfortable opening it to the public this early rather than keeping it developer-only for longer.
The real test isn’t whether Siri AI works cleanly in a controlled demo, it’s what surfaces once a meaningful slice of 2.5 billion devices starts throwing everyday, unscripted requests at it.
Whether “practical but plain” is a strong enough pitch against competitors already several iterations ahead is the question Apple has months left to answer before September.
Source: TechCrunch, "Apple Opens Its New Siri AI to Everyone With the iOS 27 Public Beta"
