WWDC25: Apple confirms delayed AI-powered Siri features coming in 2026

Apple executives say advanced Siri features like on-screen awareness and personal context didn't meet reliability standards in time, with a full rollout now expected in 2026

Apple has confirmed that its advanced AI-powered Siri features will not launch until 2026. During WWDC 2025, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi and SVP of Global Marketing Greg Joswiak elaborated on the delay in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. In a separate conversation with Tom’s Guide, Joswiak clarified that the next-generation Siri features are now expected to roll out next year. 

  The delayed features—which include on-screen awareness, personal context understanding, and the ability to perform in-app actions—were originally introduced at WWDC 2024. Apple had initially planned to ship them with iOS 18.4, but the update arrived in April without them. Apple CEO Tim Cook had previously acknowledged the delay during an earnings call, stating that while “progress” was being made, the features required more time to meet Apple’s standards.

 

Federighi said that the new Siri experience “did not converge in the way, quality-wise, that we needed it to,” adding, “We wanted it to be really, really reliable. And we were not able to achieve the reliability in the time we thought.”

 

Joswiak echoed this reasoning: “We don’t want to disappoint customers. But it would have been more disappointing to ship something that did not hit our quality standard, that had an error rate we felt was unacceptable. So we made what we thought was the best decision—I’d make it again.”

 

  Addressing the broader challenge of AI-based automation, Federighi noted that “when it comes to automating capabilities on devices in a reliable way, no one’s doing it really well right now.” While Apple had “very promising early results and working initial versions,” he said the team ultimately concluded that “this just does not work reliably enough to be an Apple product.”

 

Apple had previously said the Siri updates would arrive “in the coming year.” Joswiak has now clarified that this timeline points to a 2026 release.