Does the New Siri Still Suck?

For years, asking Siri for anything more complex than setting a timer ended the same way: “Here’s what I found on the web.”

So most of us stopped asking. For me, Siri became a voice-to-text assistant when driving.

Now, in September 2026, Apple says the new Siri is a “completely different assistant”. Apparently it can read your screen, search your messages, and work inside your apps.

It’s also slow, patchy, and still in beta.

I’ve been beta testing it since it arrived on my iPhone. This post covers what the new Siri can do, how it was built, what reviewers think, and what happened when I tried it myself.

What Is the New Siri AI?

The new Siri is Apple’s rebuilt voice assistant, re-released as “Siri AI” in beta on September 14 with iOS 27.

It’s the first time Siri has been ‘rebuilt from the ground up’, according to Apple. But then again, they say that about every product almost every year.

There are a few catches before you can try the new Siri:

It’s a beta, and you join a waitlist in Settings > Siri > Try Siri AI (Beta).
It needs an iPhone 15 Pro or newer, an M1 Mac or iPad, or a recent Apple Watch.
It’s English only for now, with French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish due in October.
It isn’t available on iPhone in the EU yet.

Slide: Siri AI is here, sort of. In beta with iOS 27, join a waitlist in Settings, iPhone 15 Pro and newer, English only for now.

Was the New Siri Built With Google?

Yes, partly. In January, Apple confirmed it picked Google’s Gemini to power the rebuilt Siri, in a deal Bloomberg reported at roughly $1 billion a year.

The models are Apple’s own, built with Google on the technology behind Gemini. Small models run on your iPhone. Medium jobs go to Apple’s Private Cloud Compute servers. The biggest reasoning model runs on Google’s cloud, inside Apple’s privacy protections, according to Macworld.

Apple says your requests are anonymized and deleted after processing. That’s Apple’s word, and it’s a fair thing to keep an eye on.

The company that sells privacy is now partnered with the company that sells ads. (I’m still deciding how I feel about that.)

What Can the New Siri Do Now?

The new Siri can search your personal stuff, see what’s on your screen, write for you, and keep your chats in its own app.

Slide: What Siri says it can do now. Knows your stuff, sees what you see, writes wherever you type, has its own app.

Knows your stuff. It searches across your apps, so it can pull a hotel confirmation from an old email or find a restaurant a friend texted you.
Sees what you see. A new Siri mode in the Camera app can identify objects, check a meal, or split a bill. On a Mac or iPad, you can ask about what’s on your screen.
Writes wherever you type. It drafts, proofreads, and can match your tone with a specific contact.
Has its own app. Your conversations sync across iPhone, iPad and Mac.

In Siri’s own words: “I’m an assistant powered by AI and may make mistakes.” Fair warning, I guess.

What Are Reviewers Saying About Siri AI?

Reviews of the new Siri are split. The best moments are impressive, and the worst ones feel very beta.

Slide: What the reviewers say about the new Siri, the good and the bad.

Blogger David Pogue called the new Siri AI “a life changer” and said it replaces most of his Google searches. Macworld had it split a bill from a photo of a receipt and dig birthday plans out of messages and email.

On the bad side, Macworld hit regular server errors and watched it flub simple logic questions. Federico Viticci said that beyond simple knowledge questions, he can’t see it replacing ChatGPT. It also takes 10 to 30 GB of storage.

Some server features also have daily limits, and Apple says expanded access will come “for a future fee.” Hold onto that one. It’s the same story as the token limits everyone is complaining about.

What Was It Like Beta Testing the New Siri?

Beta testing the new Siri, the first thing I noticed was how painfully slow it is. That feeling didn’t go away.

Slide: Beta testing the new Siri. Painfully slow, keeps disconnecting, loses the thread, stilted new voice. Includes a screenshot of a connection error.

Painfully slow. It takes ages to answer.
Keeps disconnecting. I asked it what it could see on my screen and got: “I’m having trouble with the connection. Please try again later.”
Loses the thread. It often forgets what we were just talking about, which defeats the point of a conversational assistant.
That new voice. It sounds stilted, and it talks much slower than the old Siri.

None of that is a deal breaker for a beta. It does mean the new Siri isn’t replacing the AI productivity tools I use every day just yet. For real work, I still reach for Claude or ChatGPT.

How Is the New Siri Different From the Old Siri?

The old Siri was basically a voice-to-text message assistant. You spoke, it typed, and anything harder sent you to a web search.

Slide comparing old Siri, a voice to text message assistant, with new Siri, an assistant that can see inside your apps.

The new Siri can see inside your apps and suggest simple fixes for everyday tasks. That’s a big jump, even this early. It’s the same shift we’re seeing across every AI assistant, from Claude to ChatGPT: less chatting, more doing.

Where the New Siri Goes From Here

On the show, I’m asking the chat to vote: still sucks, sucks less, or actually good.

Verdict slide: Does it still suck? Still sucks, sucks less, or actually good.

The new Siri finally has the pieces a useful assistant needs. It knows your context, it can see your screen, and it can act inside your apps. What it’s missing is speed and reliability.

If Apple fixes those two things, the new Siri has an advantage no chatbot can match. It’s already on your phone, and it already knows your life. Hopefully it takes advantage of this unique position and becomes useful.