iOS 27 and Apple Intelligence in German: Special pages for the EU with severe restrictions | News

The opening event of Apple’s WWDC developer conference this year followed an unexpected script: Instead of presenting innovations from the 27 systems platform by platform, speakers structured their presentation according to key topics, which then mentioned iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, etc. By far the most extensive chapter was, unsurprisingly, “Apple Intelligence and Siri”. Now the topic pages on the new system versions, localized for German-speaking countries, have gone online – with extensive restrictions for EU citizens.

The subpage with system announcements is divided into seven areas using tabs: “Overview” is followed by the five most important operating systems iOS, macOS, iPadOS, watchOS and visionOS. The seventh entry is dedicated to Apple Intelligence. The news about Siri AI is also extensively mentioned there. Apple already writes in the teaser that most functions in the EU “will not initially be available on iOS, iPadOS and watchOS”.

Apple Intelligence EU-wide Mac exclusive
The company’s particularly highlighted AI function “Apple Intelligence” will proactively make suggestions in future systems to save something in memories or notes. “Visual intelligence” analyzes image content, for example to recognize shops or estimate the nutritional values ​​of a meal. The Call Context feature listens to conversations and displays relevant information or simultaneous translation on the screen. Apple notes that some of these functions are not currently available for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch in the EU.

Siri AI can only speak English – and complies
Users waited a long time for the AI-supported voice assistance function announced in 2024. To date it has not appeared. The new attempt at WWDC makes no reference to the false start, but advertises similar skills: “Ask open questions […] and conduct completely natural dialogues.” However, there are indications that Siri will not be completed by the release date of System 27: “And Siri AI will be available in English later this year.”

EU sees gatekeeper function
The reason for local restrictions on certain systems is deadlocked negotiations between the European Competition Commission and Apple. The Californian company has requested an adjustment period of 18 months in order to open its own systems to competitors’ AI assistants. According to Apple, this is how much time is needed to implement a “Trusted System Agent”, which allows on-site AIs to access personal data in compliance with data protection regulations. The EU counters that the law is non-negotiable and that Apple has been aware of the DMA rules for years. However, the negotiations now appear to be continuing constructively.