Siri AI Developer Preview: what it is and how to use it

The Siri AI Developer Preview is Apple's new program that lets any app expose its own actions and content to Siri AI through App Intents, so Siri can check a delivery, book a table or place an order inside that app. It is live today for developers in the iOS 27.3, iPadOS 27.3, macOS 27.3 and visionOS 27.3 betas, and Apple says customers get it "in a few months," with App Store submissions opening in the spring.

It spread on X Tuesday afternoon. Michael Gorbach, whose bio says he manages App Intents at Apple, posted that the preview "dramatically expands the capabilities of all apps to integrate into Siri." That post has passed 300,000 views. Less than two hours later, Federico Viticci pointed out the detail that stands out: the framework "now officially uses skills," written as SKILL.md Markdown files.

What Apple announced

Apple's developer news post carries the title "Siri AI is now open to all developers." Apple has already wired Siri AI into its own apps, including Calendar, Mail, Maps, Messages, Notes, Photos and Reminders. With this preview, a third-party app can register its own custom actions, and Siri carries them out when someone asks.

Apple also added app skills, which teach Siri how to string several actions together into one task. That's the piece Viticci flagged. If you've already written skills for Claude, they will look familiar: a folder with a SKILL.md file inside, YAML frontmatter on top, plain instructions below. We covered that format when Agent Skills moved to the Agentic AI Foundation. Apple's version uses the same basic layout, so a skill you write for one assistant should be easy to adapt for another.

How to try it

Apple's preview documentation lays out the work. Here's the short version for a team with an existing iOS app:

• Add @AppIntent(.tool) to each app intent you want Siri to use. In Apple's words, "Siri can only perform actions you make explicitly available." Intents that already match a Siri schema, such as sending a message, don't need it.
• Give every intent and parameter a clear title and description. Siri reads them to work out what a request means.
• Set an authentication policy on intents or properties that return private information, and hide internal fields with visibility: .internal.
• Index your entities in Spotlight, tie them to what's on screen, and donate intents when people use your app.
• For multi-step jobs, add skills: in Xcode, choose File > New > File from Template > Resource > Skills Bundle. Each skill gets its own folder and SKILL.md file.
• Test on a real device. The preview needs Apple Intelligence hardware, not the Simulator, and a development-signed build.

A skill file is short. Apple's app skills page allows only two frontmatter fields: a name of up to 64 lowercase characters that matches the folder, and a one-line description of up to 1,024 characters that Siri uses to decide whether the skill applies. The body can run to 10,000 characters and should name your actions informally, along the lines of "call the get weather tool first."

To check the results, Xcode adds a Siri Integration Advisor that reviews your App Intents setup, and a beta SiriEvaluations framework lets you script requests and catch changes in how Siri responds.

The limits worth knowing

Apple is clear that this is a preview. The documentation warns that "App Intents API and Siri functionality may change." Builds can go to internal TestFlight testers but not external ones, and nothing works in App Store releases yet. Apple also says skills "can't enforce deterministic behavior," and Siri won't necessarily run the listed actions in order. A skill nudges Siri in the right direction. It won't make Siri follow your steps exactly.

There are footnotes on the customer side too. Siri AI isn't available in the EU on iOS, iPadOS or watchOS, or to users under 13. It runs in English, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish, with four more languages coming. Server-side features have daily usage limits, and Apple says expanded access "will be available for a fee in the future."

What it means for a small business

Most local businesses don't ship their own iPhone app, but the booking, ordering and scheduling platforms they pay for do. Once those vendors adopt this, a customer could ask Siri to book a cleaning or reorder supplies without opening anything. Last week it was MCP in Keynote, Pages and Numbers, this week skills in Siri. Both favor businesses whose processes are written down clearly enough for software to follow.

That's also the work you can start before any of this ships. List the requests customers make over and over, then write down the steps your team takes to handle each one. Our free process audit does that with you and shows which steps are ready to hand to an assistant.