Apple's next-generation personal assistant may not arrive for quite some time, but Siri's feature set became a lot more diverse with the introduction of Apple Intelligence in iOS 18. As of that update, Siri is accompanied by a rainbow of hues around the border of your iPhone screen when active.
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It sounds like a silly thing to prioritize, but Siri's new look isn't just a cosmetic makeover. As part of Apple Intelligence features such as notification summaries, Genmoji and the Clean Up tool in Photos, Siri gains some new features.
But if you're not seeing this colorful change, you may still need some assistance getting it to trigger. If you recently upgrade to iOS 18.3 and aren't sure how to get Siri's new glow, here's how to get it to activate.
It's possible you may need a new phone (like one of the best iPhones of 2025) to get it to work properly. More than likely, you'll just need to do a quick software update.
Four iPhone home screens showing the animation of the new Siri effect: a pink glow erupts from the Sleep/Wake button, which becomes a glowing colorful border around the screen. In the last panel, a Siri request for "What time is it in Stockholm" is shown with the answer.
The new design of Siri is a glowing border that distorts everything briefly. Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET
Watch this: Apple Redesigns Siri With AI and Glowing Borders
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Your iPhone might not be able to run Apple Intelligence
The latest system update is for everyone with an iPhone XS or later, but that doesn't mean everyone gets Apple Intelligence. In fact, because much of the AI computation is done on device, only a handful of models can currently run the new technologies:
iPhone 15 Pro
iPhone 15 Pro Max
iPhone 16
iPhone 16 Plus
iPhone 16E
iPhone 16 Pro
iPhone 16 Pro Max
Apple Intelligence will also run on Macs and iPads with M-series processors, as well as the latest iPad Mini (which is powered by the A17 Pro chip).
If you have any of those models, you'll see the shimmering new look when you invoke Siri. On the Mac, the Siri search field gets the same effect instead of the entire screen edges. If you have a different model, you'll see the same Siri orb.
Closeup of an iPhone screenshot showing the Siri pulsing orb at the bottom of the screen.
Siri under iOS 18 looks the same as it did in iOS 17 for many people. Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET
You may need to re-enable Apple Intelligence
After the first Apple Intelligence features arrived in iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1 and MacOS Sequoia 15.1, they weren't automatically turned on. You had to sign up and wait for a few hours or days to get access.
The latest updates (iOS 18.3.2, iPadOS 18.3 and MacOS Sequoia 15.3) now enable Apple Intelligence automatically, even though it's still considered a beta feature. If you never signed up for the waitlist, or this is your first jump to iOS 18 from iOS 17, for example, Apple Intelligence should be on and the new Siri interface should appear.
However, if at some point you had Apple Intelligence on your device but you turned it off, the latest updates don't flip the switch to re-enable it. Go to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri and make sure the Apple Intelligence toggle is turned on.
Read more: Now Anyone Can Try the Next Apple Intelligence Features in iOS 18.4 Public Beta. How to Download It
Check your Siri language settings
Currently Apple Intelligence is not available worldwide and uses only English language models. In Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri, make sure Language is set to one of the following:
English (Australia)
English (Canada)
English (Ireland)
English (New Zealand)
English (South Africa)
English (United Kingdom)
English (United States)
Two iPhone screenshots showing the Apple Intelligence & Siri settings and callouts for the English language variants that support the new Siri.
As of iOS 18.3, the new Siri features are supported only in the selected languages. Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET
Additionally, if you switched the Language setting to something else -- talking to Siri in another language can be more fun than Duolingo -- selecting one of the English variants above does not automatically re-enable the new Siri. But there's an easy fix: In Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri, turn Apple Intelligence off and back on again. Then restart the iPhone. That re-downloads the necessary language model.
Support for other languages is coming later this year. A footnote on Apple's Apple Intelligence page clarifies: "Additional features and languages will be available in April, with more languages and platforms coming over the course of the year. Languages supported in 2025 include Chinese, English (India, Singapore), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and Vietnamese."
For more on what's new related to the latest system update, here's the right way to back up your iPhone before you install iOS 18.3 and eight settings you want to change first in iOS 18.3. And don't miss my five (plus one beta) favorite Apple Intelligence features.
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