Apple deprecated SiriKit at WWDC 2026. Your app still compiles — you just get warnings in Xcode 27. Here is the uncomfortable part: the moment iOS 27 ships this fall, your app becomes invisible to Siri. Not broken. Not crashing. Just gone from voice search. That is the clock every iOS developer with SiriKit code is now racing against.
The False Comfort of “It Still Compiles” #
iOS 27 ships Siri rebuilt on a 1.2T-parameter Gemini model. That new Siri routes exclusively through App Intents — not SiriKit, not INExtension
, not INIntent
. Your existing SiriKit code will compile in Xcode 27. You will see deprecation warnings, but the build succeeds. This is exactly the kind of thing that makes developers think they have time.
They do not. A deprecation warning on a build means nothing to the user asking iOS 27 Siri to open an order in your app and getting a blank response. SiriKit apps on iOS 27 are not broken — they are invisible. There is no crash log. The user just assumes your app does not support voice.
What App Intents Actually Is #
App Intents launched in iOS 16 as the Swift-native replacement for SiriKit. Where SiriKit locked you into fixed domains — messaging, ride-booking, payments — App Intents lets you expose any action your app can perform. It integrates with Siri, Spotlight, Shortcuts, the Action Button, and Apple Intelligence. SiriKit integrated with one of those.
The iOS 27 update adds App Intents 2.0, which brings streaming responses for long-running actions, multi-turn conversational follow-ups, and a new View Annotations API that lets users reference on-screen UI elements directly in voice commands. Migrate now and you are not just fixing a deprecation — you are gaining a proactive distribution channel. Gemini-powered Siri will surface your app based on user context without any setup from the user.
How to Migrate: 4 Steps #
Step 1: Audit Your SiriKit Usage
Search your project for INIntent
, INExtension
, and .intentdefinition
files. List every intent handler you have implemented. This is your migration scope.
Step 2: Use Xcode’s Built-In Converter for Widget Intents
For SiriKit widget configuration intents, Xcode handles most of the work. Open your .intentdefinition
file, select the intent, and click “Convert to App Intent.” Xcode produces equivalent App Intents code. Verify that parameter names and types match exactly — schema consistency is required for existing configured widgets to keep working. If the button is grayed out, use Editor → Convert to App Intent from the menu bar.
Step 3: Manually Migrate SiriKit Intent Handlers
For custom INIntent
handlers, the conversion is manual. Replace your NSObject
-backed handler with an AppIntent
struct, and replace intent parameters with @Parameter
property wrappers. The perform()
method replaces the completion-handler pattern with async/await.
Before (SiriKit):
class OrderCoffeeIntentHandler: NSObject, INOrderFoodIntentHandling {
func handle(intent: INOrderFoodIntent,
completion: @escaping (INOrderFoodIntentResponse) -> Void) {
completion(INOrderFoodIntentResponse(code: .success, userActivity: nil))
}
}
After (App Intents):
struct OrderCoffeeIntent: AppIntent {
static let title: LocalizedStringResource = "Order Coffee"
@Parameter(title: "Size")
var size: CoffeeSize
func perform() async throws -> some ReturnsValue & ProvidesDialog {
let order = try await CoffeeService.shared.placeOrder(size: size)
return .result(
value: order.id,
dialog: "Your \(size.rawValue) coffee is ordered."
)
}
}
The Swift-only, type-safe approach eliminates the Objective-C bridging layer entirely and integrates cleanly with async/await throughout your codebase.
Step 4: Add AppShortcutsProvider
AppShortcutsProvider
makes your intents discoverable without any user configuration. Gemini Siri uses the phrase examples you provide to match natural voice input to your intents. This is what activates the proactive surfacing — skip it and your migrated intent still will not appear unless users navigate to Shortcuts manually.
struct CoffeeShortcuts: AppShortcutsProvider {
static var appShortcuts: [AppShortcut] {
AppShortcut(
intent: OrderCoffeeIntent(),
phrases: ["Order coffee in \(.applicationName)", "Get me a coffee"]
)
}
}
The Real Deadline Is Not Apple’s “2-3 Years” #
Apple’s official deprecation window is two to three years. Ignore that number for planning purposes. The real deadline is iOS 27’s public release this September. From that date, any user on iOS 27 who tries Siri with your app gets nothing. The 2-3 year window is when SiriKit disappears from the SDK entirely — the functionality loss for your users happens in September.
App Store review takes one to seven days, and beta submission closes before the GM build. To be safe, target mid-August for a migration submission. That is roughly eight weeks from today. The audit takes an hour. Widget conversion via Xcode takes minutes. Manual handler migration scales with how deeply you used SiriKit, but the vast majority of apps use one or two intents at most. This is a week of focused work, not a quarter-long project.
One last thing: App Intents requires a minimum deployment target of iOS 16. If your app still supports iOS 15, migration means bumping that target. iOS 15 market share is negligible in mid-2026, but it is a decision to flag with your team before you start. Check the official Apple migration documentation for edge cases around widget backward compatibility.
Start This Week #
App Intents 2.0 on iOS 27 is a meaningfully better API than SiriKit in every dimension — type safety, async/await support, open-ended domains, Apple Intelligence integration. The migration is worth doing for its own sake, independent of the deprecation. The fact that Apple is forcing the issue is just the deadline you needed to prioritize it.
Run the project search for INIntent
today. The scope of work will probably surprise you — in a good way.