iOS 27: how to limit what Siri's AI can see

Apple's iOS 27 replaces the old Siri with something closer to an AI chatbot, and merges it with Spotlight into one search and AI interface. By default, this new Siri can search through your own Apple apps, things like Notes, Messages and Mail. Whether it can also read a third-party app's content depends on whether that app's developer has built in support for it: if they haven't, Siri can't read inside that app, though it may still be aware of what's on screen at any given moment.\n\nSome of what you ask Siri is processed on your phone. Some of it is sent to Apple's Private Cloud Compute servers instead. There's currently no indication on screen telling you which one just happened. Apple says data sent to Private Cloud Compute isn't stored after processing, which is worth knowing, though it's a company statement rather than something you can independently verify.\n\nNone of this is a breach or a hack. It's simply a new set of defaults, and like most new defaults, they're worth checking rather than assuming.\n\n## What this actually means for you\n\nIf you update to iOS 27, the new Siri starts with fairly broad access to your own apps' content, switched on. You get to decide app by app whether that stays the case, but one part of it, on-screen awareness, currently can't be switched off at all. That's the part that matters most if you use secure messaging apps: Siri can read whatever's currently on your screen, and that can include messages in apps like Signal or WhatsApp, regardless of how private those apps are designed to be.\n\nThis feature is only available on iPhone 15 Pro, Pro Max, iPhone 16 or newer, only in English so far, and not rolled out worldwide. Whether it reaches UK devices, and when, isn't confirmed by what's known so far.\n\n## What to check or change\n\nStop Siri searching a specific app. Go to Settings > Apps > [app name] > Search and turn off 'Show Content in Search'. Do this for anything you'd rather Siri didn't index, Messages is the obvious one for most people.\n\nDon't rely on App Access for this. Settings > Siri > App Access looks like the control for what Siri can read, but it mostly isn't. It governs personalisation features, app suggestions, 'Learn from this App', 'Show on Home Screen'. Apple says these use on-device processing and aren't stored on servers, but they don't control content access, that's the Search setting above.\n\nStop your Siri chats being used for training. Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements and turn off 'Improve Siri & Dictation'. This is off by default, but it's possible you opted in during setup without noticing.\n\nGo back to the old Siri. If you'd rather have the more limited, more predictable version, go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions, turn restrictions on, then set 'Allowed Siri Version' to 'Siri Classic'.\n\nTurn Siri off entirely. Settings > Siri > 'Turn Off Siri' removes it altogether, if you'd rather not deal with any of this.\n\nWatch what's on your screen. Since on-screen awareness can't currently be switched off, the practical workaround is behavioural: if you're discussing something sensitive in Signal, WhatsApp or elsewhere, be aware that whatever's visible on screen may be read and, in some cases, sent to Apple's servers to process a Siri request.\n\n## What this does not fix\n\nTurning off these settings does not guarantee nothing ever leaves your device. It reduces what Siri deliberately reads, it doesn't audit every process running on an iPhone. There is no confirmed single toggle yet to switch off all Siri AI access to an app at once, Apple appears to be heading that way but it hasn't shipped. And nothing here is evidence that Apple has stored or misused anything read by Siri, that isn't what's being reported, this is about defaults and settings, not wrongdoing.\n\nIt's also worth being honest about what a VPN does and doesn't touch here. A VPN protects your traffic on the network, what you send and receive, and hides your location and browsing from your provider and from snoopers on public Wi-Fi. It has nothing to do with what an on-device assistant can read on your own screen. That's a phone settings problem, not a network problem, and the fix is the list above, not a VPN.