David Pogue Tests Apple’s AI Siri With 125 Real-World Tasks

Summary

David Pogue reviews Apple’s new AI Siri in OS 27 by running it through 125 practical tests on Apple devices. The assistant can search across Mail, Messages, Notes, Files, Calendar, Contacts, Reminders, Photos, and other apps, allowing users to retrieve personal information without knowing where it is stored. In the tests, Siri also completed compound actions such as adding information to calendars or reminders, drafting and sending messages, moving files, identifying songs, editing photos, and combining visible information with app actions. Its visual and screen intelligence handled tasks including reading documents, translating signs, identifying objects, summarizing articles, extracting text, evaluating products, and opening meeting links. Several capabilities failed or remained incomplete: Siri could not query Health data, unsubscribe from an email, favorite a photo, skip audiobook chapters, directly call an Uber, send a Venmo payment, or create some requested automations. The reviewer says it was generally reliable but still required confirmation for actions such as placing calls and deleting alarms, and some requests worked on iPhone but not Mac. Apple’s own apps are broadly supported, while Audible, WhatsApp, Spotify, Lightroom, and Notion are among the third-party apps updated for Siri; Gmail was cited as an example of an app that was not compatible. Apple says personal app data remains locked on the device, while access is limited in the European Union, where Siri AI is available only on Macs. Rollout is staged because Apple cannot enable the feature for all 2.5 billion devices at once. Pogue argues that built-in access and the breadth of actions could make Siri one of the world’s most-used AI assistants, while acknowledging that Android has offered some comparable functions for years.