Siri headed to iPad with iOS 6, report claims
The sassy voice assistant, which remains an iPhone 4S exclusive, is rumored to be headed to iPads with iOS 6.
Apple's Siri voice assistant is headed to iPad users with iOS 6, according to a new report.
Citing "trusted sources," Apple-centric blog 9to5Mac says the voice assistant will land on the tablet this fall with nearly all the features currently found on the iPhone 4S, short of making phone calls.
"Music playback, iMessaging, Calendar managing, Reminders, Weather, Maps integration, E-mailing, Notes, Contacts searching, Safari integration, Wolfram-Alpha searching, and more are all present," the report claims.
As for the timing on all this, the report offers nothing concrete, saying that Apple could either take the wraps off it at WWDC next week, or hold off on introducing it until it actually shows off the next iPhone.
Apple's voice assistant software made its debut with the iPhone 4S as a beta product last October. During an interview at the D10 conference last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook hinted that the software had an upgrade in the works, noting that "a lot of people" were working to improve the technology. In the same interview, Cook noted that the "S" in the iPhone 4S moniker stood for Siri, which Apple has marketed heavily in recent months as the phone's standout feature.
Siri was successfully ported to iPads back in October, but not through official means. One tweak made use of a jailbroken iPad to get the voice assistant to work on the bigger screen. Similar efforts brought the sassy software to older iPhones, a feature Apple is not expected to offer.
In two separate reports, presumably citing the same sources as the Siri tip, 9to5Mac says iOS 6 will also get some carryover features from OS X Mountain Lion, which is expected to be priced and dated for release at next week's WWDC. Those features include a "do not disturb" mode, which appeared in a recent developer beta and lets users turn off all alerts and notifications with a single toggle; a cloud-based Safari tab sync feature; and a mail VIP feature to highlight e-mails from designated contacts. The blog also re-iterates claims made last week that iOS 6 would get built-in Facebook integration.
Apple is expected to fully detail iOS 6 at WWDC, which kicks off on June 11 at 10 a.m. PT. CNET will be there to bring you all the news, as it happens. Stay tuned for more details on that.