15 September,2026 03:14 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Representational Image. File pic.
US tech giant Apple on Monday said it is rolling out a major software update that includes Siri AI, robust parental controls, and new Apple Intelligence features compatible with certain iPhone, Mac, and iPad models.
The company will roll out the expansive set of software improvements across iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, and other Apple platforms, it said in a statement.
Siri AI will be a new version of the company's virtual assistant that is powered by the next generation of Apple Intelligence. The company said it is a more capable and conversational assistant with personal context understanding, broad world knowledge, onscreen awareness, and even more systemwide app actions.
"Siri AI can understand personal context across messages, emails, photos, and more to help users find what they need in the moment. It can also answer questions related to the content on a user's screen or go out to the web to get up-to-date information to generate a helpful answer. Siri is integrated into the Camera app on iPhone with Siri mode, allowing users to get information and take action on what's in front of them," it said.
Users can also opt for Write with Siri, which will allow them to generate a draft or polish what they have written.
Siri AI would be deeply integrated into iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro. Apple is rolling out the beta in English and plans to launch other languages such as French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish in October.
Besides, the company said the next generation of Apple Intelligence will help in editing photos and creating high-quality photorealistic images, and users can also identify images generated or edited with AI, which will be available through a software update later this year.
In its web browser Safari, the Apple Intelligence-powered tools will automatically organise a user's tabs into topics and enable the creation of custom extensions based on a description. It can also send notifications to alert users on website changes such as product restocks or price drops.
Apple Intelligence and Siri AI in iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, and visionOS 27 are available on iPhone Duo, iPhone Air, iPhone 16 models or later, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPad mini (A17 Pro), iPad models with M1 or later, MacBook Neo (A18 Pro), Mac with M1 or later, Apple Vision Pro, Apple Watch Series 9 or later, Apple Watch Ultra 2 or later, and Apple Watch SE 3 when paired with an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone.
Apple has said Siri AI will not be available for users below the age of 13. Besides, the company has added new features that will allow parents to monitor what their kids can see, who they can talk to, and when they have access to apps. Parents can also enable age-based safeguards across the system. Before children access a new website on Safari, they would require parental consent. In addition, Apple has added features that detect and intervene to block gore or violent content in shared images or videos.
Parents can also monitor the average device usage of the children and manage which apps their children have access to at different points in the day.
The company claimed that with the new software update, users will experience faster performance on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. "On iPhone and iPad, apps launch up to 30 percent faster, photos load up to 70 percent faster after being taken, and AirDrop transfers are up to 80 percent faster," it said, adding that it was based on its internal testing.
On iPad, browsing files and transferring them to an external USB drive will become five times faster; on Apple Watch, music playback is even faster.
It further said that sending large photos and videos in low-bandwidth situations no longer prevents subsequent texts from going through, so users can continue replying while media is being delivered.
