• Siri is getting an overhaul with AI at the center.
• Apple has made Siri more natural, contextually relevant, and personal.
• The virtual assistant can now control features and actions in apps.

• A new leak exposes most (if not all) of the new AI-powered Siri features we expect to see at WWDC 2024.
• Siri is becoming more powerful and better at performing complex tasks through natural language.
• It is unclear if all these features will go live simultaneously or be a staggered rollout.

Enlarge (credit: Apple)

The biggest feature in iOS 18, the one that affects the most people, was a single item in a comma-stuffed sentence by Apple software boss Craig Federighi: "Support for RCS."

As we noted when Apple announced its support for "RCS Universal Profile," a kind of minimum viable cross-device rich messaging, iPhone users getting RCS means SMS chains with Android users "will be slightly less awful." SMS messages will soon have read receipts, higher-quality media sending, and typing indicators, along with better security. And RCS messages can go over Wi-Fi when you don't have a cellular signal. Apple is certainly downplaying a major cross-platform compatibility upgrade, but it's a notable quality-of-life boost.

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  Prioritized notifications through Apple Intelligence

Apple Intelligence, the new Siri, and the iPhone

iOS 18 is one of the major beneficiaries of Apple's AI rollout, dubbed "Apple Intelligence." Apple Intelligence promises to help iPhone users create and understand language and images, with the proper context from your phone's apps: photos, calendar, email, messages, and more.