Siri is good now??

June 12, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Siri might finally be useful — and it changes everything

The new Siri is rolling out to users, and for the first time in years, the early reports are genuinely positive. After spending a full day testing it, Joanna Stern told the Vergecast she was "on a terror" about how impressed she was. The reason is surprisingly simple: Apple rebuilt the underlying search index on the iPhone from scratch. For years, trying to search your own text messages on an iPhone did basically nothing. Now there is a meaningful, working index of your mail, messages, and photos. The AI layer on top can actually access that index, read it, and deliver results. That alone is transformative for daily use.

What Apple actually fixed

The conversation on the Vergecast zeroed in on what is really new here. The hosts argued that the most important improvement is not some breakthrough in AI model capability. It is that Apple "literally rebuilt the thing from the ground up" — the database that stores and organizes content on your phone. Mike Rockwell confirmed at a tech talk that Apple started from scratch with the question of how to build the database properly, because after nearly 20 years of iOS, they had built it wrong.

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What you'll learn

1 (04:01) **Siri Might Actually Be Good Now** - David and Nilay discuss early reports that the new Siri is surprisingly competent, sparked by Joanna Stern's enthusiastic hands-on experience.
2 (12:49) **Why Good Siri Upends the Consumer AI Industry** - If Siri is now good enough, it "Sherlocks" free ChatGPT and other AI assistants by being built into the OS with access to personal data.
3 (19:32) **Apple's UX Philosophy vs. Multi-Step Agents** - Apple seems to believe most people don't want to orchestrate agents, just get things done, but this may be an excuse for being behind.
4 (28:37) **Ad Break** - Advertisements for Anthropic, Granola, and Klaviyo.
5 (32:04) **The Social Network Pivot to "Small"** - Nilay presents three news items and asks for a grand theory: Instagram's algorithm controls, Blue Sky's Communities, and YouTube DMs.
6 (34:10) **Instagram's Algorithmic Agency** - Adam Mosseri's post about letting users talk to the algorithm in natural language is a major shift.
7 (43:05) **Blue Sky's Pivot from Public Square to Communities** - Blue Sky's CEO said the "public square" model is dead, and the company is more inspired by Reddit.

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Show Notes

We're all starting to test Apple's newest software post-WWDC, and the most surprising thing has happened: Siri actually seems to be pretty good now. Nilay and David discuss how that happened, and what it means for the AI industry, and all of us, that Apple's voice assistant is finally useful. Then, we have some news about Bluesky, Threads, and YouTube that adds up to a big change in social networks, plus the Hype Desk, Brendan Carr, the Trump Phone, and a really great deal for iPad users