At its WWDC event in June, Apple announced that its personal assistant Siri would be compatible with third-party apps in iOS 10. It will enable you to interact with a variety of third-party apps with only your voice. The iOS 10 – currently in beta stage – will be released to the public sometime in September. Nathan Olivarez-Giles of the Wall Street Journal tested out Siri with third-party apps. Olivarez-Giles said it was a “long-overdue” feature that will make Siri “useful in everyday life.”
Siri in iOS 10 will be limited to only six types of third-party apps
Popular apps like WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Slack, and Square Cash are among the first few to integrate with Siri. Apple has said that you’ll also be able to book a ride through Lyft or Uber using Siri. Olivarez-Giles was able to test apps for messaging, sending mobile payments, and image search. Don’t worry, Siri still asks you to scan your fingerprint to authenticate a transaction.
When the iOS 10 rolls out to public, the third-party Siri integration will be limited to only six categories: messaging, ride-hailing, photo search, workouts, VoIP calling, and mobile payments. Apple plans to expand the app types in the future. WSJ reports that hundreds of app developers are adding Siri integration. It is an important step in the direction of making Siri the go-to way to interact with our devices.
You can perform tasks quickly using Siri
Olivarez-Giles said Siri performs these functions without opening an app. It serves a card with the details of the action. He also found that asking the personal assistant to perform a task was much easier and quicker than launching the app and carrying out the task yourself. App developers believe that such a feature would allow users to interact with their apps more often.
Several developers are planning launch day updates to their apps to be among the first to support Siri integration. Apple has limited Siri to only six categories in order to control privacy and experience, and enhance Siri’s understanding of the language and context. Third-party apps will get access only to data necessary to perform the requested action, nothing more.
