Siri is the apple virtual assistant that this 2021 meets ten years. Since then, the intentions to improve update after update have been good. However, competing attendees have always gone one step further than Apple and Siri has always been one of the elements to improve in each major update. Following WWDC 2021 in which iOS and iPadOS 15 were unveiled, Tim Cook's team tried to show two of the best that will be integrated into Siri: the possibility of run functions without internet connection and Outsourcing the assistant to third-party products. But are these improvements enough? Or is it still a step behind the rest of the attendees?
Siri offline and on third-party devices, enough improvements?
Apple wanted to dedicate time from its national developer conference to Siri, its virtual assistant. In fact, the assistant's progress in the last year was signaled. However, there are many comparisons that exist on the Internet in which Siri is left behind by other assistants such as Alexa or the Google Assistant. But the key to understanding these improvements is not in comparisons. but on the patent advances that will be incorporated in iOS and iPadOS 15.
With iOS and iPadOS 15 an option that has been asked for years, almost since its launch in 2011 is achieved. be able to invoke Siri actions without an internet connection since a connection with Apple's servers is currently necessary to finalize a request. In this way, the user will be able to perform daily actions without Internet access such as setting reminders, opening or closing events, consulting device information, etc.
This is achieved thanks to internal processing of requests so that Siri does not need to compare the request on their servers. However, not everything is software in this function since Apple requires certain requirements to be able to use the assistant without Internet. First of all, it requires an A12 Bionic chip or later and downloading of speech models. Finally, Apple also informs that it will only be available in German, Cantonese, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, French, English and Japanese.
Apple opens the borders of its assistant and greets third-party products
Another novelty announced around the Cupertino virtual assistant is the Siri Outsourcing to Third Party Products. That is, being able to incorporate Siri into other non-Apple products, something unimaginable a few years ago. To do this, Apple will study each case meticulously in order not to give in to irregularities or security breaches that could compromise user information.
Third-party products that want to onboard Siri will reportedly have to be Compatible with HomeKit and work with the Home app on all Apple operating systems. In addition, it is likely that they could require a HomePod or HomePod mini since it is likely that the HomePod would send the requests to the servers.
Clearly all these advances put raise the quality of Siri significantly. However, not everything is the functions extrinsic to the operation of the assistant but there is a long way to go to achieve fluency, immediacy, speech and context recognition and usability for the user.
