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Apple ships iOS 27 public beta with rebuilt Siri AI backed by Google Gemini

· by Pondero Newsdesk

The short version

The first iOS 27 public beta opened July 13, giving consumers outside developer circles their first access to a rebuilt Siri that holds conversations, searches personal files, and draws on Google Gemini rather than ChatGPT for world knowledge.

Apple ships iOS 27 public beta with rebuilt Siri AI backed by Google Gemini

Apple opened the iOS 27 public beta on July 13, giving consumers their first access to a completely rebuilt Siri. The new assistant holds multi-turn conversations, searches personal files across Mail, Messages, Notes, and Calendar, reads what is on the screen, and takes actions inside third-party apps. It draws on Google Gemini for broader world knowledge, per Apple's WWDC 2026 announcement, replacing the ChatGPT integration that shipped with earlier iOS releases.

What happened

Apple posted the first public beta on July 13. Previous betas were limited to developers; this release is free to any iPhone owner through the Apple Beta Software Program. The update runs on iPhone 11 and newer, though Apple Intelligence features, including the rebuilt Siri, require iPhone 15 Pro or newer, per 9to5Mac.

The rebuilt Siri no longer operates as a command-and-response system. Users can ask follow-up questions without repeating context, pull specific details from personal data sources, and trigger multi-step sequences inside apps. In iOS 27 developer beta 3, Siri also gained the ability to pull information from select third-party apps. A dedicated Siri app stores conversation history, synced privately over iCloud. The assistant is English-only at launch and will not be available in the EU initially.

Beyond Siri, Apple reports three performance improvements across supported hardware: apps launch up to 30% faster, newly captured photos appear in the Photos app up to 70% faster, and nearby AirDrop transfers complete up to 80% faster, per 9to5Mac. Engadget noted the speed gains were already perceptible in early developer betas. Apple says the CPU scheduler optimization extends back to iPhone 11.

Why it matters

The public beta is the first time most iPhone owners can test what Siri has actually become after two years of announced but unavailable rebuilds. The shift to Google Gemini was confirmed at WWDC on June 8, three weeks before Apple filed a trade secret theft lawsuit against OpenAI on July 10, per CNBC. The commercial pivot to Gemini and the litigation together make a return of any ChatGPT role in Siri unlikely in the near term.

For operators building AI-tool workflows, the new Siri's in-app action model is the sharpest competitive signal. Shortcut automations can now be created from plain-language descriptions, and Siri can act across apps without the user switching between them. That places it in direct functional overlap with standalone workflow and agent tools that have operated in the space Siri left vacant. The question for teams already invested in third-party automation platforms is whether Apple's tight hardware-software integration will pull general-purpose users back into a native solution, or whether the more capable specialist tools hold.

Apple Intelligence usage in the beta carries daily limits, which iCloud+ subscribers can expand, per the WWDC announcement. Whether those limits are relaxed for the GA release matters for anyone evaluating the platform against alternatives that impose no such caps.

What to watch next

iOS 27 GA typically ships in September alongside a new iPhone launch. Before then, watch for additional public betas that may extend Siri's third-party app integrations and test EU compliance paths. The Apple-OpenAI lawsuit filed July 10 is at an early stage; its trajectory will determine whether Apple's ChatGPT partnership is formally terminated in court or quietly settles.

Sources