Siri update delay: Apple’s Craig Federighi explains what’s going on

Apple’s WWDC just kicked off, and iJustine got a rare sit-down with Craig Federighi, Apple’s software chief. As expected, she went straight for the elephant in the room: the much-discussed Siri update delay.

Instead of dodging, Federighi gave a surprisingly direct answer regarding the delay behind the Siri update. He admitted Apple had new Siri features working, but they simply weren’t reliable enough to roll out. According to him, launching features that aren’t solid would be “useless,” so the team switched gears. That change in direction, he says, is behind the delay.

What we said a while ago was that we were really working hard to get those [features] to come together. [We] had them working internally, but not working well enough.

You know, when you have an experience like asking Siri to do something, either it becomes something you can depend on reliably, or it’s something in the end you’re not going to use. And we were not able to take the approach we were taking to the quality level in the time frame that initially we thought we could. And so, we’re continuing to build on it.

Federighi also promised that everything Apple announced for Siri is still coming—eventually. The timeline is anyone’s guess, but he did tease some “and more” surprises down the road.

Siri’s overdue for a real glow-up. Hard to believe it launched before Google Assistant, Alexa, or Cortana, considering how long it’s lagged behind. But Apple’s hinting at a huge upgrade, maybe the biggest since Siri first showed up on iPhones.

iOS 26 is scheduled to drop this fall, but don’t expect every new Siri feature to be ready on day one. Apple loves saving a few tricks for the latest iPhone, so keep your expectations in check until then.