Apple opens Siri AI to every app, with SKILL.md-style app skills for multi-step requests

The first versions of Siri AI only worked with apps through a smaller set of supported schemas[3]. Apple's schemas still exist and cover common categories like task management, photo editing and communication[2], but now Siri AI can carry out any custom action an app builds, from checking a delivery to booking a reservation to placing an order. Apple says Siri AI can also surface any entity in the Spotlight semantic index, not just ones that fit an existing schema, and apps get its personal context understanding, onscreen awareness and natural language handling[1].

Users also won't always need to name the app. If a ride-sharing app has an active Live Activity, for example, a request to "change the ride address" goes to that app[3].

For complex requests, Apple is introducing skills that teach Siri AI how to combine several actions into a single experience[1]. Apple's documentation, quoted by 9to5Mac, gives an example of Siri finding a favourited pair of sneakers in one app, working out who "my partner" is from Contacts, and sending the item through a messaging app[3].

Developers who have built AI agents will recognise the format. One developer's walkthrough of the docs says each app skill is a SKILL.md file with only a name and a single-line description in its frontmatter, a body of up to 10,000 characters, and no scripts or extra files, a narrower version of the Agent Skills format coding agents use. Intents marked as tools become functions Siri can call. The same walkthrough notes Apple's warning that skills can't enforce deterministic behaviour, so sensitive actions still need authentication policies in code[4].

Apple is rolling the new capabilities out across its own apps, including Calendar, Files, Finder, Journal, Mail, Maps, Messages, Music, Notes, Photos, Preview, Reminders, Safari, Shortcuts and Weather, so people can ask for things like finding a coffee shop they visited last week or archiving files that haven't been opened in over a year[1].

This is an early preview. Apple says the features ship to customers in a few months, App Store submission opens in the spring, and it will share more on the terms and usage policies for Siri AI experiences later. Apple engineers are running Apple Intelligence Group Labs for developers on November 4 and 5[1].

Siri AI needs an Apple Intelligence-enabled device set to a supported language: English, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese or Spanish for now, with Traditional Chinese, Norwegian, Turkish and Vietnamese coming. It is currently unavailable in the EU on iOS, iPadOS and watchOS, isn't available to users under 13, and server-side features including Siri AI have daily usage limits, with expanded access to come for a fee[1].

Opening Siri AI to any app turns it from an assistant that knows a few app categories into a tool-calling agent that sits across the whole iPhone. For developers, App Intents become the way customers reach their app by voice and text, and the skills format means the work they put into agent-style tool descriptions now carries over to Apple's platforms. The open questions are Apple's usage terms and the paid tier for heavier use, which it hasn't detailed yet.