iOS 18.2 beta 2 was rolled out to developers and testers on the developer beta channel on Monday, as Apple prepares the next version of its smartphone operating system that is expected to arrive in early December with more Apple Intelligence features. The latest beta releases also include support for a new application programming interface (API) that will allow developers to provide the system with access to on-screen content, allowing Siri and Apple Intelligence to send information to third-party services for processing.
Apple Introduces API for Siri’s Onscreen Awareness Feature
On the Apple Developer website, the company has provided documentation (via Macrumors) for the new API titled ‘Making onscreen content available to Siri and Apple Intelligence’ that is designed to allow access to an app’s onscreen content, enabling Siri and Apple Intelligence to understand what content the user is accessing.
If a developer adds support for the onscreen content API, their application will provide the contents of the screen to Siri/ Apple Intelligence when a user explicitly requests it, according to the company. The information on a user’s screen can then be shared with a third-party service (such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT).
Apple has also provided an example of Siri accessing onscreen content. While browsing the web, a user can say or type “Hey Siri, what’s this document about?” to ask Siri to provide a summary of a document.
Developers can also add support for onscreen awareness in browser, document reader, file management apps, mail, photos, presentations, spreadsheets, and word processing apps. Apple says that this list is not exhaustive, so more apps should be able to take advantage of the API in the future.
It’s worth noting that iOS 18.2 won’t bring support for the new Siri, which is expected to offer greatly improved functionality. That’s expected to arrive on iOS 18.4 along with support for in-app actions, which will reportedly be released by Apple in April 2025, which is ample time for developers to integrate support for the API into their apps.