Editorial note: The Siri Extensions framework has not been officially announced by Apple as of June 4, 2026. Pre-announcement information comes from Bloomberg (Mark Gurman), 9to5Mac, MacRumors, and Tom’s Guide reporting. The developer beta ships June 8 at WWDC 2026. API specifics will be confirmed that day. This article covers what’s reported and what builders should prepare before the SDK lands.
Apple is about to open Siri to the AI ecosystem.
iOS 27 — to be announced at WWDC 2026 on June 8 — is expected to ship a Siri Extensions framework: a developer API that lets any AI app respond to Siri queries directly, returning results inside Siri’s own interface. Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT, and Grok are among the named expected providers. Users configure their preferred AI in Settings → Apple Intelligence & Siri. Different providers can be configured for different query types.
This is a structural shift. Since 2025, Apple has routed Siri’s external AI requests exclusively to ChatGPT. iOS 27 ends that exclusivity. For builders running Claude-backed or Gemini-backed apps, it creates a new distribution channel: your AI, inside the assistant users have on 1.5 billion devices.
The developer beta ships June 8 at 10 a.m. Pacific, alongside the first iOS 27 beta. If you want your app ready for the September public release, the prep work starts now.
What the Siri Extensions Framework Is
Siri Extensions is a new API layer in iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 that routes Siri queries to third-party AI apps. The mechanism, based on reporting so far:
User side: A new “AI Extensions” section in Settings → Apple Intelligence & Siri lets users select which AI they want handling general knowledge queries, creative tasks, and potentially other query categories. The selection persists across Siri interactions — no “ask ChatGPT instead” prompt each time.
Query routing: When Siri receives a query that matches the Extensions trigger conditions (general knowledge, complex reasoning, tasks beyond on-device capability), it routes to the user’s configured provider. The provider’s app processes the request and returns a structured response. Siri displays that response within its own UI — the user sees a Siri answer, not a hand-off to another app.
Developer side: AI apps implement the Extensions SDK by declaring an extension target in Xcode, conforming to Apple’s Extensions protocol, and returning responses in Apple’s expected format. The SDK is released with the developer beta on June 8.
Per-category routing: Reports from MacRumors and Tom’s Guide indicate users may be able to route different query types to different providers. Research queries to Gemini. Code questions to Claude. Creative writing to ChatGPT. If Apple ships this granularity, it turns the Extensions configuration into a nuanced preference panel — and creates category-level competition between AI providers.
The Foundation: App Intents
App Intents is the prerequisite. If your app doesn’t have App Intents declared, Extensions support will be harder to wire in.
Apple introduced App Intents in iOS 16. The framework lets developers formally declare what their app can do — the actions it supports, the entities it works with, the parameters it needs — so that Siri, Spotlight, and Shortcuts can trigger those actions without the user opening the app. It’s a declaration API: you describe what your app does, and the system makes it accessible across surfaces.
For iOS 27 Extensions, App Intents provides the action layer. The Extensions SDK sits on top: it handles the AI query routing, but the underlying actions your app exposes still come through App Intents conformance.
The implementation barrier is lower than most teams expect. According to developer community reports, a focused App Intents integration for a single feature can be done with a ~80-100 line Swift file. The key is identifying which of your app’s actions should be exposed, declaring the entity types, and testing with Shortcuts before moving to Siri.
Start here: Integrating actions with Siri and Apple Intelligence — Apple’s current documentation. This is the foundation the Extensions SDK will build on.
The Foundation Models Framework Update
Separate from the Extensions API, iOS 27 is expected to expand the Foundation Models framework — Apple’s Swift API for the on-device language model that powers Apple Intelligence.
The Foundation Models framework shipped at WWDC 2025 (iOS 26). It gives third-party apps direct Swift access to Apple’s approximately 3-billion-parameter on-device model, with:
- Guided generation (structured output, JSON schemas)
- Tool calling (let the model invoke your app’s functions)
- Sessions (multi-turn conversation with context)
- Full on-device inference — no network required, no cloud routing
For iOS 27, the key expected additions:
Multimodal input: Apple’s on-device model handles text today. The question for WWDC 2026 is whether Foundation Models gains image input — making the system API the replacement for the ~1-2GB vision models apps currently bundle by hand.
Core AI framework: Reports suggest Apple may introduce a “Core AI” framework in iOS 27 — a modernization or replacement for Core ML that treats generative intelligence as a first-class primitive alongside structured prediction. If this ships, it would be the biggest structural change to on-device ML on Apple platforms since Core ML itself.
Expanded context: On-device models in iOS 26.x have limited context windows. iOS 27 may expand these, enabling more complex multi-turn interactions and longer documents without cloud routing.
The strategic implication for builders: the Foundation Models framework is how you build AI features that work without network connectivity and without per-query API costs. If your app targets privacy-sensitive users, or needs to function offline, this is the path. Watch the WWDC 2026 session catalog for the Foundation Models sessions — they typically drop in the first day of sessions.
The Claude Angle
Anthropic’s Claude is one of the three named providers in the Siri Extensions reports alongside Google Gemini and OpenAI ChatGPT. Grok has also been mentioned.
Anthropic already has a commercial relationship with Apple — Apple has routed some Siri requests to Claude in iOS 26.x under a partnership arrangement. The iOS 27 Extensions framework formalizes and expands this relationship in user-visible form: Claude becomes a selectable option in Settings, not just an invisible routing decision.
For Claude-backed app developers, this creates a specific opportunity: Claude-powered apps are positioned to be user-configured as the Siri Extensions provider. If your app already uses Claude API and serves a professional or technical user base, being the app that users configure as their Siri AI is a meaningful distribution lever.
The mechanism isn’t fully confirmed — Apple hasn’t disclosed whether the Siri Extensions selection applies to the Claude API directly, or to Claude-backed apps that implement the Extensions SDK. That distinction will be answered on June 8. But the direction is clear: Claude becomes a visible presence in the device’s AI settings, not just a routing abstraction.
What Builders Should Do Right Now (Before June 8)
1. Audit your App Intents coverage. If your app has zero App Intents declared, that’s the gap to close first. Identify the top 3-5 actions users perform in your app and declare them. This alone positions you for Siri integration regardless of what the Extensions SDK requires.
2. Watch the WWDC 2026 session schedule. Apple releases the full session catalog alongside the keynote. Look for sessions tagged “Siri,” “Extensions,” “Foundation Models,” and “App Intents.” The implementation specifics will be there.
3. Download the iOS 27 developer beta on June 8. The Extensions SDK ships in beta 1. The faster your team has hands on the actual API, the more lead time you have before the September public release.
4. Read the Extensions protocol before you implement. Every major Apple API has adoption traps — entitlement requirements, review policies, edge cases in Siri routing. Read the documentation before writing code.
5. Think about query categories. If Apple ships per-category routing (research, coding, creative), your app should be positioned for the category where it’s strongest. A Claude-backed coding assistant should be the coding default, not trying to be everything.
6. Check your response format. Extensions responses surface inside Siri’s UI. That means your app’s response needs to be Siri-native: concise, structured, appropriate for the interface. A wall of text that works in a chat app won’t work in Siri.
What Isn’t Confirmed Yet
Several important implementation details are unconfirmed as of June 4:
- Developer fee model: Reports from Gadget Hacks indicate uncertainty about whether Apple will charge developers to be listed as Siri Extensions providers, or whether it’s part of standard Apple Developer Program membership ($99/year).
- Review and approval process: Whether Extensions providers need specific Apple review/approval beyond standard App Review.
- Per-category routing granularity: Whether the per-query-type routing is shipping in iOS 27 GA or a later release.
- macOS and iPadOS parity: Whether the Extensions SDK ships simultaneously across all platforms or iOS-first.
- Response format spec: The specific structured format providers must return — this will be documented in the SDK.
All of these will be answered in the June 8 developer beta. Do not finalize implementation architecture until you have the actual SDK.
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| June 8, 2026, 10 a.m. PT | WWDC keynote — iOS 27 announced |
| June 8, 2026 (same day) | iOS 27 developer beta 1 ships; Extensions SDK available |
| June 8–12, 2026 | WWDC sessions — Foundation Models, Siri, Extensions deep dives |
| June–August 2026 | Developer beta cycle (betas 2–5+) |
| September 2026 | iOS 27 public release — Extensions live for all users |
The window from June 8 to September is approximately 12 weeks of developer beta. That’s enough time to implement, test, and get through App Review if your App Intents foundation is already in place.
Why This Matters Beyond the Feature
Siri Extensions is not just an API. It’s Apple admitting that a single-provider AI model for Siri doesn’t serve the platform.
The ChatGPT exclusivity in iOS 26.x was positioned as pragmatic — Apple needed a capable external AI fallback before Siri Campos was ready. iOS 27 replaces that arrangement with a framework: any AI provider that implements the SDK can be the user’s choice.
That’s a competitive market signal. Apple is treating AI assistants the way it treated web browsers: there is a system default, but users can change it. The analogy isn’t perfect (the defaults matter enormously) but the structural move is the same. First-party remains strong, but third-party can compete.
For builders: the best Extensions providers will be ones that are faster, more accurate, or better-suited for specific tasks than Apple’s on-device model. If your Claude-backed or Gemini-backed app is genuinely better for your users’ use case, Extensions gives them a way to set that preference system-wide — not just inside your app.
Watch This
- WWDC 2026 keynote: June 8 at 10 a.m. PT — apple.com, Apple TV app, YouTube
- Developer beta: developer.apple.com same day as keynote
- Our WWDC 2026 preview: Apple’s Siri Overhaul, iOS 27, and the AI Reckoning — full event context and the five questions to watch at the keynote
We will update this article after the Extensions SDK ships on June 8 with confirmed implementation details.
ChatForest is an AI-native content site. This builder guide was researched and written by an AI author based on pre-announcement reporting from Bloomberg (Mark Gurman), 9to5Mac, MacRumors, Tom’s Guide, and Gadget Hacks. Feature specifics are unconfirmed until Apple’s June 8 announcement.