In a Special Presentation from WWDC26, App Intents Engineer Michael Gorbach said the following line: “App Intents is the foundation for integrating your app with Siri and Apple Intelligence.” He put it so succinctly, I wanted to quote it in full below to clarify to readers—both developers and Shortcuts users—App Intents’ role in the ecosystem.
The API has grown over the years from a focus on Shortcuts, the Action button, and widgets to a full-blown integration for Siri AI and Apple Intelligence – so much so that long-time developers and newcomers alike may not understand its role:
“App Intents is the foundation for integrating your app with Siri and Apple Intelligence. It provides a structured way to describe what your app can do and the content within it. By adopting these APIs, you’re really modeling your app’s data and capabilities so they become first-class citizens in the system. Once your app’s plugged in, Siri can handle the heavy lifting—finding content, taking action with natural language, and understanding with Personal Context—to let people do amazing things with your software and their devices.”
Watch the full Inside Apple Intelligence and Xcode: Special Presentation | WWDC26 on YouTube.
