Apple delays Siri AI for iPhone users in the EU, says regulators refusing to engage

Apple said it is not able to launch Siri AI, its redesigned digital assistant, on iPhones, Apple Watches or iPads in the European Union, marking the company’s latest stand-off with the continent’s antitrust watchdog.

Apple said in a statement on June 8 that it had proposed an EU-specific solution that would make Siri AI compliant with the bloc’s Digital Markets Act, known as the DMA, while protecting user privacy by limiting the data that virtual assistants could access.

The European Commission did not accept any of its suggestions over the past several months and, as a result, Siri AI will not be available in the EU as part of iOS 27 or iPadOS 27, the company said.

Apple sought to be exempt from interoperability obligations under the DMA and did not develop solutions that would allow users to utilise other AI agents, according to a spokesperson for the commission, which is the EU’s executive arm.

“The decision not to allow Siri AI in the EU is Apple’s and Apple’s only,” commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said at a press briefing on June 9. “Nothing in the DMA prohibits Apple from introducing products in the EU.”

This is Apple’s latest pushback at the EU’s attempts to crack down on Big Tech’s market influence. In 2025, Apple voiced its opposition to many of the rules within the DMA, including allowing outside payments and downloading of apps from alternative marketplaces.

The commission has said it will not repeal or change the DMA in response to the company’s complaints, and Apple has been forced to make changes for EU users accordingly.

Earlier on June 8, the iPhone maker unveiled the redesigned, smarter Siri, which can answer questions by drawing from what is on users’ screens, as well as their messages, e-mails and photos.

Apple said that under EU regulators’ “extreme interpretation” of the DMA, the company would be required to give any virtual assistant direct access to users’ private data, “without the essential protections necessary to keep users and their data safe”.

The regulators’ “refusal to engage constructively on solutions that preserve privacy and security means we do not currently have a timeline for Siri AI’s availability on iOS and iPadOS in the EU”, said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice-president of software engineering, in the statement.

“Our hope is to eventually bring Siri AI to the EU, and we will continue to engage with EU regulators on a path forward.”

Siri AI was otherwise released for developer testing on June 8, and will be available to users later in 2026 in English, as a beta product. It will still be available to EU users in the upcoming versions of the operating systems for the Mac and Vision Pro, Apple said.

The feature is not coming to the Apple Watch because the wearable requires a paired device to function, according to a company spokesperson. The company also said Siri AI will not be available in China as it works through local regulatory requirements. BLOOMBERG