Apple senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi has explained why the company launched a standalone Siri app in iOS 27, after previously characterizing a dedicated chatbot as contrary to its Apple Intelligence strategy.The new Siri app, announced at WWDC earlier this week, gives users a centralized place to manage and revisit their conversations with Siri AI.Federighi addressed the apparent about-face during a post-keynote discussion for the media at Apple Park this week, responding directly to a question about Apple's prior public stance.
Following WWDC 2025, Federighi and senior vice president of worldwide marketing Greg Joswiak went on a media tour in which they described Apple's approach as weaving Siri into the user's existing workflow rather than offering "a bolt-on chatbot on the side." Federighi this week said the decision came down to a practical user need to return to and continue past Siri conversations.Apple determined that a home screen app was the most natural affordance on its platform for that purpose, and framed the Siri app as an extension of the system experience rather than a standalone product: The iOS 27 developer beta is available now, though access to the new Siri requires joining a waitlist in Settings, with a public beta expected in July.
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