Apple May Allow Siri Alternatives Soon

This feature is part of the private Extensions Framework and works with iOS 27 and macOS Golden Gate, which are now rolling out to compatible devices.

The Extensions Framework offers a dedicated Settings area where users can choose their preferred backend model to provide Siri with writing tools and image generation capabilities. Siri acts as an intermediary, receiving voice commands or text input from the user and routing them to the selected model provider.

Coder and reverse engineer pdfu claims that Apple has incorporated two systems to integrate third-party AI into its hardware. The first system uses the Model Delegation API, which lets third-party models like Claude operate as a Siri extension, similar to the built-in ChatGPT extension in Siri’s model picker.

pdfu demonstrated the feature by selecting Claude from the “Ask” menu on their Mac and asking Siri to ask Claude to create a reminder in the Reminders app. Since the task required access to a system app with potential privacy concerns, it was completed by Siri after Claude processed and interpreted the request.

In some cases, Claude completes tasks by itself when Siri is unable to act on those requests. For example, Claude can create a CSV file after receiving a natural language voice prompt because Siri AI is still unable to process CSVs and certain other file formats.

The second system allows an inference provider in the “Model Manager Services” component in iOS 27 and macOS Golden Gate to replace the server-side Siri AI with third-party services. While the tipster identified GPT-5.6 as a provider, Apple has yet to confirm the tie-up.

Although the model selection feature is part of iOS 27 and macOS Golden Gate, it isn’t available to users just yet. However, with the EU’s Digital Markets Act mandating that built-in AI chatbots in computing devices should allow users the choice of multiple models, it should only be a matter of time before Apple officially opens Siri up to third-party models.