Apple’s newest Siri — the assistant that can look at your screen and search your messages — arrived on iPhones this week. If you live in Europe, your iPhone is the one device left out.
What actually happened
On 14 September, Apple released iOS 27, the yearly update for iPhones. The headline feature is Siri AI: a rebuilt version of Siri that can see what is on your screen, look through your messages and emails for an answer, and do things inside other apps — draft an email, add something to your calendar.
Installing the update is not enough. You open Settings, tap Siri, then tap Try Siri AI (Beta) — and that puts you on a waiting list. It works in English for now, more languages follow next month, and it is not offered on children’s accounts under 13.
Then comes the part that matters in Germany. Apple says Siri AI is not available on iPhones, iPads or Apple Watches in the European Union. Apple’s own notes say that Mac computers and the Vision Pro headset in the EU do get it, which makes the iPhone the odd one out.
Why your iPhone in Europe does not get it
The argument is about the Digital Markets Act, an EU law that places extra duties on the largest technology companies — the “gatekeepers”, because so much of daily digital life passes through them. One of those duties is interoperability: rival products must be able to work with the platform.
Apple says that is exactly why the feature is missing. It says it offered a technical solution it calls a “Trusted System Agent” plus an 18-month plan to roll Siri AI out gradually, and that EU regulators rejected its proposals. Apple’s software chief, Craig Federighi, said the company was “deeply disappointed” that EU users would not have Siri AI on iPhone or iPad.
The European Commission tells a different story. Its digital affairs spokesman, Thomas Regnier, said: “The decision not to roll out Siri AI in the EU is Apple’s and Apple’s only, because absolutely nothing in the DMA prohibits Apple from introducing new products in the EU.” He said Apple could not build a way for competing assistants to work alongside Siri that met the EU’s privacy and security standards, and that the Commission refused Apple an exemption, since letting Siri skip the rule would leave rival assistants without a fair chance on the iPhone.
In plain terms: Apple wants tight control over how its assistant behaves inside its own phone, while the EU wants rival assistants to have the same opening. Neither side has moved.
Why this matters to you
The most advertised feature of the phone you already own is not coming to it, and Apple has not said when it will. What is being decided is who gets to be the helper inside your phone — one assistant chosen by Apple, or a choice between several. And you are not shut out of everything: iOS 27 itself still arrives, because Apple’s note limits the hold-back to Siri AI and the features that depend on it.
What you can actually do
- Open Settings → General → Software Update to see whether you have iOS 27. If you do not, updating brings the other new tools and Apple’s latest security fixes.
- If you live in the EU, there is nothing to switch on — and a new iPhone would not change that, because the limit follows where you are, not which model you hold.
- If you also use a Mac with an M1 chip or newer, you can join the waiting list there: Settings → Siri → Try Siri AI (Beta).
- Ignore any app or website offering to “unlock Siri AI”. The assistant is part of the phone’s own software, so no download can add it — and anything asking for your Apple ID password is a scam.
Common misunderstandings
Myth: the EU banned Siri AI
Nothing in the Digital Markets Act forbids Apple from shipping a product, and the Commission says so itself. What the law requires is a route for rival assistants to work on the iPhone. Apple says that requirement is what it could not meet; the Commission says Apple simply did not manage it. A ban and a disagreement about how to obey the rules look the same on your screen, but they are not the same thing.
Myth: a newer iPhone would fix it
The restriction follows the region, not the model. An iPhone 18 in Dortmund sits in the same position as an iPhone 15 Pro. Even the phones Apple began delivering this week go without it in the EU.
Myth: the new Siri will be free and unlimited forever
Apple has put daily usage limits on the features that run on its servers, Siri AI included, and says expanded access will be available for a fee in the future. The limits and the price have not been published.
What to watch for next
Apple says it is still working on a path forward, and the two sides have talked at the highest level, so an EU release on iPhone could still come — with no date attached to it. In the meantime, watch for copycats: whenever a famous feature is missing, apps and websites appear promising to switch it on. None of them can.
The one thing to remember
If you use an iPhone in Europe, the biggest new feature of the year is not on your phone, and nobody has promised a date for it. That is a dispute between Apple and EU regulators over who gets to run the assistant on your device — not something broken on it. Ignore anything offering to unlock it, and expect the answer to come from Brussels and Apple rather than from your settings.
Image credits: Siri AI press image © Apple, used editorially from Apple’s newsroom. Berlaymont building photo by EmDee, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.