Siri AI doesn’t switch itself on when you update your device.
Siri AI has the same basic requirements as Apple Intelligence. If your device is capable enough for Apple Intelligence, it can install iOS 27, iPadOS 27, or macOS 27 and use Siri AI. watchOS 27 also provides ancillary access via a paired iPhone on supported Apple Watch models. Apple Vision Pro can also use Apple Intelligence. However, Apple also has language and region requirements at launch.
How to turn on Siri AI
Go to Settings > Siri on iPhone or iPad, or System Settings > Siri on a Mac, and tap or click “Try the new Siri.”
Why search and Siri must optimize
After you enable Siri AI on your device, it may need to “optimize” both search and Siri. This is some kind of elaborate indexing. Keep your device plugged in for faster optimization.
On a fresh install and some upgrades, you may have to wait some period of time. On an unloaded iPhone—freshly restored to factory settings and with relatively little synced material—it took well over a day for the optimization message to disappear and for Siri’s new features to start working.
Monochrome or colorful Siri icon
The Siri pane of Settings on iPhone and iPad, or System Settings on a Mac, lets you configure numerous aspects of Siri AI. You can use this pane to understand whether Siri AI is currently engaged, something that’s not always the case.
If you see the new monochrome Siri icon, that means your device is currently configured to use Siri AI. If you see the old, colorful Siri icon, that means it’s not.
Among the reasons the old icon might appear are that your device, or Siri, is set to an incompatible language, that your two language settings don’t match, or that you have turned off Siri.
Both your Siri language and your system language (Settings > General > Language & Region > Preferred Languages on iPhone and iPad, or System Settings > General > Language & Region on a Mac) must be identical—including the dialect, if applicable on your device. For example, if one is set to English (United States) and the other is set to English (Canada) on a Mac, you’ll get the old version of Siri. Make sure the two match—and note that switching your system language may require a restart.
