Apple released the latest iOS 15 public beta on Wednesday. The update will drop alongside the iPhone 13 in September, but right now, iPhone owners are testing out the software. Although Apple announced iOS 15 at WWDC this June, we’re still learning more about the update every week. For example, this week we learned that iOS 15 will eliminate some useful Siri features.
“Starting with the customer release of iOS 15, iPadOS 15, macOS Monterey, tvOS 15, and watchOS 8 this fall, some SiriKit intent domains will be deprecated and will no longer be supported in all new and existing OS releases,” Apple explained on its developer site. “If a user makes a request that leverages one of these APIs after it’s been removed, Siri will reply that it can’t support the request.”
Everything Siri can’t do in iOS 15
Overall, Apple lists 22 SiriKit domains that will stop working as of iOS 15. Third-party apps that utilize these domains will lose some of their functionality. For example, you will no longer be able to book a ride in ridesharing apps with Siri. Similarly, you won’t be able to cancel a ride, get the status of your ride, or leave feedback. Basically, Siri will stop working with ridesharing apps. That’s a bummer because these are arguably some of Siri’s most useful commands.
CarPlay looks to be taking the biggest hit. In iOS 15, you’ll no longer be able to set an audio source or radio station in a third-party app. You also won’t be able to set climate settings, defroster settings, or seat settings. Apple removed setting and saving car profiles as well.
List-making and note-taking apps are also losing some Siri integration. You can no longer append a note, create a task list, or delete a task. You also can’t pay or search for your bills in third-party apps, transfer money between accounts, search for photos, or search your call history.
Why is Apple killing off Siri functionality?
Weirdly, the company hasn’t provided any explanation for these sweeping changes. As MacRumors points out, there will now presumably be first-party apps made by Apple capable of performing tasks that are off-limits to third-party apps. These changes to Siri in iOS 15 certainly won’t stop anyone from accusing Apple of anticompetitive behavior.
“Make plans to update any promotional activities that highlight the functionality provided by these APIs in your app,” Apple warns on the support page. “Please note that the symbols will remain in the SDK, so you don’t need to remove the API calls from your app. However, you’ll receive compile-time warnings alerting you to the deprecation going forward.”
