Fix Siri. Fix Autocorrect. Thanks, Apple.

Then, how to use Meta glasses without Meta’s cloud storage. And an Old Thing I could really use right now so I don’t get distracted by… Oh, look, another browser tab. 

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To prepare for WWDC, I did what any normal person would do: watch 15 years of Siri keynote demos.

I learned two things. First, Apple really loves saying, “Now, let’s talk about Siri.” Second, Apple has always believed Siri would be—as it said at the now-teenage product’s debut in 2011—the “intelligent personal assistant that goes everywhere with you.”

Apple has steadily built out that second part of the vision. Siri really is everywhere: in our iPhones, cars, HomePods, Apple TVs, AirPods, Macs and watches. The “intelligent” part? Not quite. I won’t rehash the history of Apple’s failed AI and Siri promises. It’s well known. So are my efforts to call out Apple executives on it.

But on Monday, Apple gets another do-over. Its hotly anticipated, Google Gemini-fueled Siri revamp is a fresh—and perhaps its last credible—chance to show how Siri can become the intelligent personal assistant Apple has been promising since 2011.

Here’s what I’m hoping to see from Siri, plus a few other iOS wishes that are far less ambitious and more about just giving us the basics:

1) A conversational, competent Siri. 🎙️

Apple has already announced that Gemini will “power future Apple Intelligence features, including a more personalized Siri coming this year.” That’s what I expect we’ll see previewed on Monday—the long-awaited version that can access your information across apps and use what’s on your screen to answer useful questions in contexts specific to you. This Siri will likely sound and look more like the AI we already use. Bloomberg has reported that Apple is working on a Siri-like chatbot you could text with, mirroring the experience of using ChatGPT or Gemini. Watch my our looking back at 15 years of Siri promises—from voice changes, upgrades and redesigns, despite a flatlined IQ.

2) Autocorrect that actually works. ⌨️

As I wrote a few weeks ago, something has happened to iOS autocorrect—and the iOS 26.4 update didn’t fully fix it. I’d love to see a new AI engine behind the keyboard, better dictation and something closer to a Wispr Flow-style keyboard. At the very least, I’d like my iPhone to stop “fixing” words I very much meant to type and then completely changing typos to words that don’t make any contextual sense! 

3) Split-screen apps. 🗺️

Samsung and other Android phones have long let you put two apps side by side on larger screens. On an iPhone Pro Max, there’s plenty of room to stack two apps vertically or place them side by side when holding the phone horizontally. And with all the reports of a foldable iPhone on the way, there’s no better time for Apple to bring real multitasking to iOS. Let me keep Notes open while I browse the web. Let me watch a video while answering a message. Let the big phone act like a big phone.

4) Airpods app.  🎧

I mentioned this a few weeks ago on X and it got quite a reaction. Give us one place for the noise cancellation controls, hearing features, gestures, battery details and all the other tiny toggles we can never find in Settings when we need them.

5) Parental controls that work.  🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒

It shouldn’t be that hard. If I set a time limit on an app, it should sync instantly from my phone to my kids’ iPads. If I approve a download request, it shouldn’t take multiple tries. It’s been years since Apple gave parental controls meaningful attention. I wrote about these problems while I was at The Wall Street Journal. So did my former colleagues. Parents have been dealing with the same frustrations for far too long.

Maybe this is our year. Apple is already navigating new child-safety requirements, including age-verification rules tied to app downloads in Texas. 

Stop Meta Glasses Cloud Uploads

Wednesday's newsletter featured our recent reporting on Facebook Marketplace sellers who disable the recording light in Meta Ray-Bans, allowing wearers to record in what they call “stealth mode.” But another Meta glasses concern I hear often is, “I don’t want my photos and videos shared or stored with Meta.” So today’s Useful Thing is a quick check to make sure footage recorded on your Meta Glasses stays local and does not make its way to Meta. Here’s how to do it on the Meta AI app:

Recordings will still save to the Meta AI app gallery and directly to your iPhone’s Photos app, so they can still be backed up to iCloud. That means you can go back and review first-person footage of yourself to confirm that, yes, you absolutely nailed that ski mogul jump. Or whatever it is you record hands-free.

Name: Kelly Skovron

What’s your old thing? Renaissance Learning AlphaSmart Neo 2

What year is your old thing from? 2007

Why do you love your old thing? Back in 2011, I was on a really tight deadline and my colleague told me that if I needed to crank out a novel fast, I should write it on an AlphaSmart. It's just a keyboard and a monochrome LCD screen, and it stores up to eight plain text files that can be exported to a computer via USB. It runs on three AA batteries that last for literally months. No distractions, no temptations, no futzing, just raw prose output. Oh, and it only cost me $30. I do wish the LCD had back-lighting, but otherwise it's perfect. I've been using it on and off for 15 years and it's never let me down.

This newsletter was written and curated by Joanna Stern and Adele Lowitz. Have a great weekend! And may all your Siri dreams come true.