SiriKit

Siri for Apple Watch is about to get much more useful

In addition to highlighting a new Theater Mode in watchOS 3.2, Apple yesterday announced that the upcoming software update will also enable support for Siri in third-party Apple Watch apps. As you probably know by now, the SiriKit framework made its debut in iOS 10.

It’s an officially sanctioned way for developers to enrich their apps for messaging, payments, ride-booking, workouts, calling and searching photos with Siri interactions.

With SiriKit support in watchOS 3.2, developers can add spoken commands to Apple Watch apps to let users ask the personal assistant on their wrist to do things like book a ride, send a message, make a payment or accomplish other supported tasks.

How to find out which third-party apps on your iPhone support Siri

Since Apple introduced SiriKit with iOS10, a growing number of developers worldwide have worked out unique ways to intelligently embed Apple’s virtual assistant. When the likes of WhatsApp and Uber released their Siri compatible versions it was still hard to escape the flurry of news about it, but the novelty of Siri integration has certainly worn off a little in the interim.

With the newsworthiness of Siri-ready apps sinking, it is more likely than not that some of the apps on your iPhone have secretly acquired Siri capabilities that you are entirely oblivious of. If you want to bring yourself up to date on what you may have been missing out on, it only takes a few clicks within the Settings app to unveil which of your apps have lately taken to Siri.

“Hey Siri, send Sébastien $100 using PayPal”

PayPal’s iPhone and iPad application was updated on the App Store this morning with support for iOS 10’s SiriKit integration for mobile payments, allowing you to send and request money in 30 countries around the world using just your voice.

With a simple voice command like “Send $20 to Dad using PayPal” or “Request $20 from John with PayPal”, Siri connects with the PayPal service and pulls up a custom sheet with details of your transaction before you authorize it.

“Hey Siri, call Sébastien on Skype”

Apple’s made a rare move of publishing multiple blog posts to whet our appetite for Siri’s upcoming third-party integration on iOS 10. We already detailed how Siri will work with popular messaging/payments apps and allow you to search photos inside third-party apps like Pinterest, just by using your voice.

Now, we take a closer look at how Apple’s personal digital assistant can interact with VoIP apps like Skype, Vonage and others.

Apple previews photo-search capabilities coming to iOS 10 via Siri app integration

iOS 10 marks the first time Apple has allowed other people’s apps to integrate with Siri. The following app categories are permitted to take advantage of the new SiriKit in iOS 10: ride hailing, messaging, photo search, mobile payments, VoIP and workout apps.

The company already detailed Siri integration in popular messaging and payments apps and now a new blog post shows you how Siri can find photos inside apps like Pinterest, Vogue and more.

App Store Review Guidelines updated with details on subscriptions, SiriKit and iMessage

In addition to beefing up App Store quality control by removing poorly maintained apps and those with 50+ characters in their name starting September 7, Apple also updated the official App Store Review Guidelines with details on app subscriptions, SiriKit and downloadable iMessage content. “As you plan and develop your apps for the upcoming releases of iOS 10, macOS Sierra, watchOS and tvOS, make sure to read these updated guidelines,” writes Apple.

First hands-on demo of Siri’s app integration doesn’t disappoint

Capabilities of SiriKit, a new iOS 10 framework that lets third-party apps work with Siri, were on full display in the first hands-on demonstration given to Nathan Olivarez-Giles of the Wall Street Journal. In addition to extending Siri’s support for messaging, photo search and phone calls to more apps, SiriKit also adds support for new services, including ride booking and personal payments.

Nathan was pretty impressed with the usefulness of Siri’s app integration on iOS 10, calling it a “long-overdue” enhancement that will make Apple’s personal digital assistant “more useful in everyday life” than it’s ever been.