This underrated Siri feature proves Apple can do AI – but the iPhone’s voice assistant still needs a drastic makeover in 2026

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This underrated Siri feature proves Apple can do AI – but the iPhone’s voice assistant still needs a drastic makeover in 2026 Features By Axel Metz published 22 December 2025

Siri Suggestions is pretty good, actually

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The Siri Suggestions app tray in Search (Image credit: Future) Share Share by:

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Apple is still very much behind the curve when it comes to delivering fully formed AI tools à la Google’s Magic Eraser and Samsung’s Live Translate, but the iPhone is not totally bereft of machine learning (ML) magic.

The best AI features are the invisible time-savers; tools that work in the background to help us use our smartphones less, not more. For example, I’ve only recently come to appreciate just how much I rely on Apple’s ever-improving Siri Suggestions tool.

Introduced way back in iOS 9 (meaning it has nothing to do with Apple Intelligence), Siri Suggestions is the ML feature behind those context-aware recommendations you see in various places on your iPhone – in Search, in Mail, on the Home Screen and Lock Screen, or when sharing content between apps.

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Siri Suggestions (and more) was discussed in the latest episode of the TechRadar podcast, which you can watch below (scrub to 11:27 for the AI discussion).

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Siri Suggestions is the best example of your iPhone analyzing usage patterns and location information to anticipate your needs at any given moment. It guesses that you might want to send a photo of your dog to your family group chat, so it puts that group chat at the front of the sharing queue. You can also thank Siri Suggestions for automatically adding event details gathered from Mail (flights, reservations, etc.) to your calendar.

For me, though, Siri Suggestions is most useful in Search; specifically, it’s responsible for the tray of apps that appears when you swipe down on your iPhone’s Lock Screen or Home Screen. And I’m convinced that Siri’s ability to deliver apps that I genuinely need has improved drastically over the past 12 months, because it seems to make the right recommendation 90% of the time.

When I finish work and head to the train station, for instance, Siri Suggestions – without fail – has my train timetable app ready and waiting for me at the front of the app queue in Search. Or, when I remember in a frenzy that I need to complete my daily Duolingo lesson at 11pm, I find that Siri Suggestions has, more often than not, moved that particular app to the front of the queue.

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It sounds silly and unimportant, but these recommendations save me seconds every day – I rarely need to scroll through four pages of apps to find what I’m looking for, because my iPhone has my routine nailed down. And sure, that’s not as impressive as having a phone that can teach me how to bake a lemon soufflé or work as an AI agent to make a restaurant reservation using information gathered from only my voice (you’ll need one of the best Pixel phones for that), but Apple does deserve credit for delivering some degree of AI functionality on its iPhones.

For Android-rivalling AI features, Apple's best iPhones reply on third-party apps (Image credit: Shutterstock / Tada Images)

Indeed, this time last year, I wrote that smartphone manufacturers were missing the point of AI. “I’ve never felt compelled to superimpose my face into a group photo I wasn’t a part of using Google’s Best Take feature, or send my flatmate a weightlifting squirrel emoji using Genmoji on iPhone, or create infinite new wallpapers using Samsung’s Generative wallpaper tool,” I complained. “Apple, Google, and Samsung seem intent on marketing the heck out of their most superfluous AI features, rather than showing me how their latest products can actually make my everyday life easier.”

For the most part, I still feel the same way. However, the subtle improvements made to lesser-known features like Siri Suggestions have renewed my faith in the promise of AI on smartphones. Here’s hoping that, for the best iPhones at least, Siri 2.0 builds on that progress in 2026.

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TOPICS Apple CATEGORIES iOS Axel MetzSocial Links NavigationPhones Editor

Axel is TechRadar's Phones Editor, reporting on everything from the latest Apple developments to newest AI breakthroughs as part of the site's Mobile Computing vertical. Having previously written for publications including Esquire and FourFourTwo, Axel is well-versed in the applications of technology beyond the desktop, and his coverage extends from general reporting and analysis to in-depth interviews and opinion.Axel studied for a degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick before joining TechRadar in 2020, where he earned an NCTJ qualification as part of the company’s inaugural digital training scheme.

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