Apple To Soon Let Users Replace Siri With Third-Party Voice Assistants But Can You Avail It?

The past few years have been a roller-coaster ride for Apple when it comes to Siri. From advertising a brand-new, AI-driven Siri for the iPhone 16 to paying a billion dollars to Google for its Gemini Assistant, Apple's failure has been evident.

Now, the company is ready to allow users to avoid being restricted to Siri, which has clearly lost the race for AI-based smart assistants, and allow third-party assistants such as Gemini, Perplexity and ChatGPT.

In iOS 26.2 beta 3, Apple has confirmed iPhone users will be able to replace Siri with third-party voice assistants. The official documentation of the changes confirms that users can now activate these third-party assistants using the side button on their iPhones.

This is a feature already available across most Android devices, including the Samsung Galaxy series phones.

However, there is a catch. This feature will only be available to users in Japan, most likely due to compliance with the Mobile Software Competition Act Guidelines established by the Japan Fair Trade Commission.

Therefore, Apple's move to allow users to use third-party voice assistants is more of a regulatory response rather than a policy shift.

Apple is, however, working towards revamping Siri, having reportedly paid Google $1 billion to get a Siri based on the Gemini architecture.

The new Siri is expected to run solely on Apple servers, and the company is not expected to share data with Google.

All of this comes in the wake of internal uncertainty within Apple, with the company reportedly preparing for the exit of CEO Tim Cook next year.

Cook had played an integral role in helping Apple integrate its software and platforms across all devices. However, the failure to integrate Siri with AI will perhaps remain one of his key failures.