macOS Rumors: Siri Updated Behind the Scenes To Support A Mac OS X-Only Feature

Siri has been updated behind the scenes to support functionality for Finder, a Mac OS X-only official app currently unavailable on iOS devices. Finder functions as the main file explorer for OS X, and any implementation of Siri on the desktop OS would by necessity include support for Finder.

This update to Siri was discovered by Brian Roemmele, a self-described tinkerer with Siri and the founder of Pay Finders, an iOS app that locates merchants that accept the Apple Pay system. Roemmele published his discovery of Siri’s newfound support for OS X apps in a post on Medium, saying he clocked Siri’s support as least as early as June 10.

Apple’s annual developer conference, WWDC, is slated for June 13 and multiple updates to Apple software are expected to be announced there. This includes a redesign of Apple Music from the ground up, a facelift for iTunes, iOS 10, Siri for OS X and a new naming convention for OS X: macOS.

There are also rumors of possible hardware announcements, specifically relating to the new MacBook Pro line. These rumors center around pictures showing placements for an OLED touchbar and leaked component shipping details.

There could be a big update for Siri in the works right now, specifically because of Apple’s acquisition of British start-up VocalIQ last year. According to Tech Insider, a source familiar with both Apple management and VocalIQ says the technology blows the competition — like Google Now and Microsoft Cortana — out of the water, and Apple has allowed the VocalIQ team to remain in Cambridge with the sole goal of integrating the technology into Siri.

Considering Google Assistant was just announced at Google I/O, now would be the time for Apple to get back into the digital assistant game.