Siri AI on iPhone Has Its Limits... Useless with KakaoTalk and Naver

Siri AI is smarter, but...
Limited integration with third-party apps like KakaoTalk and Naver
Frustrating for Korean users to use it

"The location for your lunch meeting with Company A next Monday is Restaurant B. The reservation is for 12:00 under the name XXX."

After calling up Siri by pressing and holding the lock button on an iPhone, the user asked where their lunch appointment the following week would be and got this answer. Although the location was not noted in the calendar, Siri identified the schedule, location, and reservation name from messages exchanged to coordinate the appointment with the other person.

Apple's artificial intelligence (AI) agent, "Siri AI," began supporting Korean through an operating system (OS) update on October 27. Siri AI is a feature supported starting with iOS 27, released in September, but Korean users had been unable to use it because it supported only English. For a week following the launch of Korean support, we tried Siri AI on Apple devices, including the iPhone, MacBook, and Apple Watch.

An iPhone 18 Pro running Siri AI. Apple.

Opening the Siri app on an iPhone brings up a list of conversations reminiscent of generative AI services such as ChatGPT. Unlike the previous Siri, whose conversation history disappeared when a session ended, Siri AI lets users review past conversations and continue viewing them on their other devices, including a MacBook, iPad, or Apple Watch. Users can also start a conversation as before by pressing and holding the lock button.

On a MacBook, users can enter a prompt directly into Spotlight, the quick-search window, by pressing the Command key and space bar at the same time. On an Apple Watch, they can call Siri by voice or press and hold the dial button.

Siri AI identifies events and meeting locations based on text messages and calendar entries. iPhone screenshot.

A scene showing a request to Siri AI to find a photo taken earlier. Mac screenshot

Siri AI has a different brain, too. Unlike the previous Siri, which handled only simple tasks itself and passed more complex ones to ChatGPT, it generates answers using Apple's own model, the Apple Foundation Models (AFM), trained on Google Gemini. Data sent to Apple's servers is processed through Private Cloud Compute to reduce the risk of leaks.

Siri AI's strength is its ability to answer questions using data stored on Apple devices such as the iPhone. It can use messages sent and received on an iPhone, photos taken with it, events in the calendar, and tasks listed in the Reminders app to answer questions. If asked, "Find the photo I took at the church," it can find the photo in the Photos app. If asked, "Tell me which days I have no lunch plans next week," it can find and show open dates in the calendar. Users can also ask Siri AI to message someone, add a new event, or create a new reminder.

Searching for product information using Visual Intelligence. iPhone screenshot.

Visual Intelligence, which also gained Korean support in this update, was useful. Users can activate it by opening the "Siri" tab in the default Camera app or pressing and holding the Camera Control button, then use AI-powered search to identify the subject they are photographing. Siri AI also works with Apple's AI image-generation tool, Image Playground, to create requested images and edit photos.

Limited integration with third-party apps disappoints... Support is also focused on newer devices

Siri AI does not yet support integration with major third-party apps such as KakaoTalk. iPhone screenshot

The lack of integration with third-party apps was a drawback. Apps frequently used by users in South Korea, such as KakaoTalk and Naver, do not support integration with Siri AI. It is not yet possible to use Siri AI to find information based on KakaoTalk messages or answer questions using details about a restaurant booked through Naver. Apple is currently working to enable third-party apps to integrate with Siri AI.

Siri AI also failed to handle some requests as intended. When asked, "Show me the photo I took at Gwanghwamun Square," it displayed a screenshot of the Maps app showing Gwanghwamun Square. The request may not have been analyzed correctly, leading Siri AI to search for photos containing the text "Gwanghwamun Square." Users can attach documents and give instructions, but unlike other services, Siri AI could not analyze Hangul Word Processor (HWP) files.

Another drawback is that the feature is available only on relatively recent devices. Siri AI is supported on iPhone models starting with the iPhone 15 Pro, released in 2023, and on iPads and MacBooks with Apple's M1 chip or later.

Siri AI is currently offered as a beta service, and users who want to try it must add their names to a waitlist.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.