Apple unveils long-awaited Apple Intelligence updates at WWDC 2026

At WWDC 2026, Craig Federighi, Apple's Senior VP of Software Engineering, announced a suite of new updates to Apple Intelligence. It powers Siri AI, Apple's revamped AI assistant, which is more conversational, more expressive, and now available in its own standalone app. Apple Intelligence also adds new features to apps like Photos, Messages, and Mail.

Federighi announced that “Apple Foundation Models” would be at the heart of new Apple Intelligence tools. These models will run on private servers using cloud compute and will be powered by Google Gemini models.

The new models will deliver visual intelligence capabilities, improved language understanding, and enhanced transcription. In many respects, these Apple Intelligence tools bring Apple in line with its competitors, Google and Samsung, whose devices already offer similar AI tools. 

Federighi emphasized the importance of privacy to Apple Intelligence: "Privacy in AI is non-negotiable," he said. The new Apple Intelligence tools will use a combination of on-device processing and cloud compute, and Federighi said that users' conversations would not be used for AI training.

Siri AI will be able to access the web and draw on real-world knowledge, as well as some of the apps on a user’s phone. It will even be able to analyze the screen to understand the app a user is currently using.

Siri AI will also provide real-time context for iPhone users. As Apple explained, if a user is on the phone with an airline’s customer support, their phone will automatically pull together relevant documents or links from across their other apps. This will happen on-device for added privacy.

While this feature sounds practical, Apple is very much playing catch-up. Similar features already exist for Android and Pixel users.

Members of the Apple Developer Program can test these new features starting today. They'll arrive in a public beta next month, before launching publicly as a free software update this fall.

For more WWDC 2026 news, follow our live blog to see all of the latest announcements and surprises from the annual Apple event.