Apple will enhance SiriKit for developers at WWDC with support for new intents, expanding on the various actions that the smart assistant is allowed to handle in third-party apps.

According to Guilherme Rambo of 9to5Mac, Apple’s SiriKit framework in iOS 13, macOS 10.15 and possibly watchOS 6.0 will be getting new Siri intents that developers can adopt, including new or expanded actions for:

  • Media playback: Siri will be getting support for expanded media playback intents, which should tie nicely with AirPort 2.
  • Search: You can currently search for messages and photos with your voice. The report is short on details, but it’s safe to assume that Siri will support additional types of searches natively.
  • Voice calling: No details were given. The current VoIP domain includes intents allowing users to ask Siri to initiate audio and video calls or search for received calls.
  • Event ticketing: No details were given.
  • Message attachment: The Messaging domain currently supports intents for sending messages and searching received messages. The new intent will support message attachments, possibly allowing you to ask Siri to attach a specific file to your message.
  • Train trip: Perhaps to answer the question “How long ’till we get there?”
  • Flights: This intent will support getting information about a flight, including airport gate and seat information.

For more information, please refer to Apple’s SiriKit developer documentation.

I’m no programmer so it’s best I let someone who writes apps for a living explain how Siri works and what the terms Siri “domains” and “intents” actually mean.

Developer John Daub:

Siri is limited in what it can do, functioning only within known Domains. A Domain is a category of things Siri knows about, like making VoIP calls, messaging, making payments, working with lists and notes and helping with your workouts.

Within each Domain is a series of Intents, which are actions Siri can perform. For example, within the payments Domain there are Intents to send payments, transfer money and pay bills. In the ride booking Domain, there are Intents to request a ride and get the ride status.

When considering SiriKit adoption, look at the Domains and their Intents to see which ones make sense for your app. An Intent often has parameters: when sending a message, to whom it is addressed; when making a reservation, what restaurant and for how many people.

We’ll learn more details during the WWDC 2019 keynote on June 3.