Apple opens Siri AI to all third-party apps with 'app skills' in iOS 27.3 developer beta

Apple today announced a new Siri AI initiative that allows any app to create Siri AI integrations for the first time, according to 9to5Mac. The new "app skills" also let apps teach Siri how to coordinate complicated multi-step actions.

The features will become available as part of iOS 27.3, macOS 27.3, and aligned releases. Those OS versions are in developer beta now. Pricing, context window and model details were not part of the announcement as reported.

What changed

The first versions of Siri AI were limited to a much smaller set of supported schemas. App skills remove that restriction for third-party developers and add the ability to describe how Siri should handle complex requests.

9to5Mac's Benjamin Mayo says app skills sound very similar to what other LLM-driven AI models offer, enabling richer understanding of complicated tasks. His example: a flight tracking app skill can map which app intents Siri should use to service a particular kind of user request. He writes that the first version of Siri AI was incapable of doing this.

Apple has also used the new Siri AI foundational features itself, with what 9to5Mac describes as a significant rollout of new capabilities across Apple's own apps.

Multi-step example from Apple's documentation

Apple's developer documentation describes Siri finding custom content from one app, transferring it to a specified app, and performing an action. In the example request, a user says: "Hey Siri, send my favorite sneakers to my partner in name of a messaging app." Siri then:

1. Finds sneakers the person added to their favorites.
2. Identifies who the partner is and finds them in Contacts.
3. Sends the sneaker information to that contact using the messaging app.

Fewer explicit app names

With the 27.3 update, users do not have to explicitly mention an app's name in many circumstances. If a Live Activity for a ride-sharing app is active, Siri will automatically understand that a request to "change the ride address" corresponds to the app driving that Live Activity.

Availability

• Platforms: iOS 27.3, macOS 27.3, and aligned releases
• Status: developer beta
• Public release date: not stated

What this means

Until now, third-party apps could reach Siri AI only through a limited set of supported schemas. App skills change that for developers: any app can build an integration, and the skill itself tells Siri how to chain actions. The ride-sharing example also shows a change for users, since Siri can infer the target app from an active Live Activity rather than requiring the app's name. Because the OS releases are in developer beta, developers can begin building against app skills now, and Apple has not stated a public release date.