Last week, Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas floated the idea of making a better version of Siri for iPhone users.
should we make a version of siri that works reliably on basic stuff? what all would you like to see in an iOS voice assistant ? if there’s a good amount of interest, we will prioritize
Less than a week later, the Perplexity AI team has kind of delivered.
Why there aren’t Siri competitors on iPhone
The problem with competing with Siri, of course, isn’t that Siri is too good to beat. It’s that Siri enjoys its position as the system-level voice assistant.
Apple doesn’t let you replace Siri with other voice assistants. There are some actions that only Siri can take. And Siri is the only voice assistant that you can invoke with your voice if your iPhone is locked.
But Siri did start life on the iPhone as an app before Apple acquired it 15 years ago. The rest is misery… I mean history.
Perplexity is in striking distance of Siri
For the reasons listed above, Perplexity has not replaced Siri on the iPhone. Still, what the Perplexity AI team has delivered is more than I expected.
The newest version of the app can interact with Reminders, search and play Apple Music and Podcasts, and even compose and send emails and calendar events. There’s also ride hailing, making reservations, and searching Apple Maps.
I’m impressed! The ChatGPT app is still my go-to destination for working with AI, and Advanced Voice Mode is tied to the Action button on my iPhone. Still, Perplexity has cleverly shipped actual Siri features as part of its AI chatbot unlike OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Give Perplexity for iPhone a try and see for yourself what a unified voice assistant and AI chatbot interface can offer.
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