Siri AI in the iOS 27.2 beta adds five languages. Three of their home countries still cannot use it.Siri AI in the iOS 27.2 beta adds five languages. Three of their home countries still cannot use it.

Siri AI works in French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish in the first developer beta of iOS 27.2, released on 16 September.

The rebuilt Siri launched two days earlier, on 14 September, as a beta that works only in English. In its launch announcement, Apple said the five further languages would follow next month. 9to5Mac and MacRumors both report the languages are live in iOS 27.2 beta 1 for devices set to them, and MacRumors reads the timing as a sign that iOS 27.2 itself will ship in October. Apple's developer release notes for the beta do not mention the change.

The rest of Apple's conditions are unchanged. Siri AI needs a device that supports Apple Intelligence, with both the device language and the Siri language set to a supported language. On iPhone that means the iPhone 15 Pro models, iPhone 16 or later, iPhone Air or iPhone Duo. Apple says Siri AI will not be available initially in the European Union on iOS, iPadOS and watchOS, and that it will not be available in China while Apple works through regulatory requirements.

Where the new languages are spoken

The two outlets list languages, not regional variants. Neither says whether Portuguese means Brazilian or European Portuguese, or which forms of Spanish and French are covered. Apple's announcement gives the language names only.

Our take

Six languages in two days is quicker than Apple's own schedule suggested, and it is a beta rather than a release. Things added in a first beta are sometimes held back again, so we would treat October as likely, not promised.

The more interesting point is who the new languages actually reach. France, Spain and Portugal are all in the EU, where Siri AI is not available on iPhone for now. For iPhone users, then, most of the new French, Spanish and Portuguese audience is outside Europe: Brazil, Mexico and the rest of Latin America, Quebec, and French-speaking Africa. Japanese and Korean are the two additions that reach their home markets in full. Apple's exclusion covers iOS, iPadOS and watchOS but not macOS, so a Mac in Paris may get what an iPhone in Paris does not. We have not seen that confirmed on a macOS 27.2 beta, and neither report tested it.

The regional variant matters more than it sounds. An assistant that understands European Portuguese badly is a poor product in Lisbon and a fine one in São Paulo, and the reverse is also true. Until Apple says which variants it supports, people outside the obvious markets should expect the experience to differ from what reviewers describe.

Two gaps are worth naming. Chinese, German and Italian appear in Apple's list of languages for Apple Intelligence but not in the Siri AI schedule. Hindi appears in neither. For English speakers in India, Siri AI has worked since day one. For anyone who runs their phone in Hindi, there is still no date.

For app makers, the practical step is the same as for any new language. Siri AI can trigger actions inside apps, so the names people will say out loud should exist in French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish before those users find out whether the assistant understands them.