Product1 publisher2 min readPublished
iOS 27 puts the per-app Siri data switch under a setting called Show Content in Search
Apple's iOS 27 Siri can read content from any app that lets Spotlight index it, and users can block each app with a single toggle. For app teams, a Spotlight setting now also decides what an assistant can read back to users.
The Product Desk · Product desk
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What happened
- Apple has begun rolling out its redesigned Siri with iOS 27, and users must join a waitlist before they can use it.
- A framework called App Intents lets Apple Intelligence tools, Siri included, read data from apps whose developers choose to support it.
- By default, Siri searches Apple's own apps, such as Notes and Messages, for anything relevant to a request.
- Once an app's content is switched off, Siri refuses even direct requests, telling a user who blocked Messages that it cannot find the messages.
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Why it matters
- exposure A user who changes only the switches in the menu named for Siri has adjusted app suggestions, and the app's content stays open to Siri's search.
- cost Because a blocked app produces a 'cannot find' reply, app support teams may field reports of missing data that trace back to the user's own setting.
- constraint An app team cannot tell users that the Search toggle keeps its content away from Siri, since on-screen awareness can still read screenshots and may send them to Apple's servers.
Say a user wants the new Siri kept out of a banking app. They go to Settings, then Apps, then the app itself. One of the options there is a group headed "Apple Intelligence & Siri." According to Engadget, those switches, including Suggest App and Learn from this App, decide where iOS suggests the app and have no privacy implications [9]. The switch that actually blocks Siri is under Search, and it takes five steps to reach [7][13].
The control is named for search because Siri gets at an app's content through the Spotlight index [1]. Engadget's Mat Smith tested the beta and found the new Siri much improved, thanks to smarter, more personalized responses [11]. Behind those answers is a decision Apple leaves to each developer. If an app lets Spotlight index its contents, it has also let Siri surface them [1].
As Engadget describes it, Google's role is in training. Apple partnered with Google to train the language models behind Siri AI's features [3]. Requests are handled by on-device models or by Apple's Private Cloud Compute servers. Apple says it keeps no data sent to those servers once a request is processed, and that it cannot see that data [6]. Engadget's report does not say that app content reaches Google. By default, Apple does not collect or use Siri interaction data for training, though a user may have opted in to sharing recordings and transcripts during setup [12].
A team can sort its own content on two axes. The first is exposure: whether the content is indexed for Spotlight or offered through App Intents [4][1]. The second is sensitivity: whether a user would mind hearing it in a Siri summary. Indexed, routine content such as saved recipes is the feature working as Apple intends. Indexed, sensitive content such as journal entries or account balances needs a privacy review. In that quadrant, whether Siri can search the content comes down to the user's own toggle [7]. Routine content that is not indexed is worth another look if users want the personal Siri to know about it. Sensitive content that is not indexed stays out of Siri's app search [1].
What to watch
- Whether Apple gives the per-app control a Siri label, or moves it, as the waitlist opens to more iOS 27 users.
- Any statement from Apple or Google on whether Google receives anything from Siri AI requests beyond its part in training the models.
- Whether developers of apps holding journal or financial records pull that content from Spotlight now that the index feeds Siri.