New Siri AI in iOS 27 Frustrates Users With Bugs, Slow Responses, and Lock-Screen Failures

Apple's redesigned Siri, branded Siri AI, is drawing sustained criticism from iPhone and Apple Watch users weeks into its gradual rollout as part of iOS 27. According to a report from 9to5Mac, users on a waitlist for the beta assistant are encountering five recurring categories of problems, even as Apple touts improved knowledge access, on-device message and notes search, and onscreen awareness for contextual actions.

Five Categories of Complaints

Network connectivity failures. Users report a generic "Sorry, something went wrong" error when invoking Siri AI, traced to communication issues between the device and Apple's cloud backend. The interface does not surface the underlying cause, and 9to5Mac suspects intermittent downtime in Apple's cloud infrastructure is contributing to failed requests. Disabling a VPN or switching Wi-Fi networks has resolved the issue for some.

Indexing regressions. Despite promises of better on-device search, Siri AI is failing at tasks classic Siri handled reliably — including adding items to Reminders lists, turning off alarms, and identifying HomeKit accessories by name. One Apple Watch user reported Siri AI claiming the Clock app wasn't installed when asked to set a timer.

Unlock requirement. Many Siri AI requests fail unless the device is unlocked, even when the "Allow Siri When Locked" setting is enabled. This appears linked to Siri AI's dependency on accessing a semantic index for personal context, which fails while the phone is locked — a restriction that didn't exist for classic Siri and affects even simple commands like sending a message.

Slow response times. Much of Siri AI's processing runs through Apple's Private Cloud Compute rather than entirely on-device, making response speed dependent on network conditions. The lag is most pronounced on Apple Watch Series 9 and later running watchOS 27, where commands like starting a timer can take several seconds compared to the near-instant response of classic Siri.

Missing or altered features. Siri AI currently does not support Health app queries, according to Apple's own documentation. The "Use ChatGPT" voice prefix that let users route requests to ChatGPT no longer works. Some specific phrasings that classic Siri understood now confuse the new system, a side effect of Siri AI's broader scope introducing ambiguity into narrower commands.

Users have also flagged interface complaints, including intrusive "Ask Siri" buttons added throughout iOS, a Dynamic Island UI that lacks a visible transcript of recognized speech, and a swipe-down gesture that now surfaces Siri & Spotlight instead of notifications.

Siri AI remains labeled as a beta, and Apple has not published a fix roadmap. The only confirmed update is an expansion to additional languages coming in October, according to Apple.

Reverting to Classic Siri

Users can switch back via Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Siri, changing "Allowed Siri version" from "Siri AI (Beta)" to "Siri Classic." Alternatively, disabling and re-enabling Siri in its main settings menu presents a choice between the two versions.

What This Means

Siri AI's rocky rollout reflects the difficulty of shifting a decade-old, mostly on-device assistant to a cloud-dependent architecture built on Private Cloud Compute. The unlock requirement and network dependency suggest Apple prioritized new contextual capabilities — screen awareness, message search — over preserving the reliability guarantees users expected from a voice assistant that historically worked offline and instantly. The beta label and staged waitlist rollout indicate Apple anticipated some friction, but recurring basic failures, like being unable to find an alarm or Reminders list, point to indexing issues that go beyond typical beta rough edges. Apple's silence on a broader fix timeline, beyond October's language expansion, leaves early adopters without a clear sense of when core reliability will match the previous version.