Siri easter eggs can range from dorky to almost fun, but a new one is hinting that Apple’s voice assistant is about to get a major upgrade.
As noted by Australian Apple rumors site the Apple Post, if you ask Siri about WWDC, she won’t provide you with potentially useful information, such as when or where the event is being held. Instead she’ll tease that she’s receiving an upgrade around the same time as Apple’s annual developer’s conference.
This is a very good thing for Apple fans (and anyone with an iPhone), because Siri has failed to keep up with the other voice assistants in the smarts department. When we reviewed the HomePod, a gorgeous speaker meant to leverage the power of Siri, it mainly just reminded us that the voice assistant is very, very stupid.
WWDC is naturally the best place to boast about any upgrades, from additional voices to improved logic or natural language comprehension, but so far rumors about possible Siri upgrades have been pretty scarce. In fact the biggest news around Siri’s improvements were in April, when it was reported that Apple had hired John Giannandrea from Google. Giannanadrea is noted for his expertise in AI and search and it’s expected he’ll be helping to improve Siri—though any improvements involving him are likely quite a ways away.
Apple Insider has speculated that improvements to Siri could include the integration of an app Apple acquired: Workflow. That app allows users to create workflows similar to those used by Alexa’s Skills, so you could potentially better automate your home and use Siri as the hub. MacRumors, meanwhile, suspects Apple will improve Siri integration with the iOS Photo app, which could enable you to search and sort photos with your voice.
Whatever improvements come Siri’s way will be welcome. Especially as the voice assistant can’t possibly get any less useful than it currently is. We’ll know more when WWDC kicks of June 4, 2018.
[The Apple Post, h/t CNBC]