Back in June, Apple had announced a number of exciting changes for iPhone users in iOS 10, with a great deal of attention going towards improving Siri. The company has finally decided to tear down the walls surrounding its digital assistant, allowing third-party apps like WhatsApp to take advantage of its abilities. WhatsApp for iPhone appears set to get expanded functionality that lets users utilise Siri voice commands for sending and reading messages, apart from making voice calls.
A leaked WhatsApp translation request reveals the WhatsApp functions Siri will be able to access. The request, for an explanation text shown to users when prompted to give WhatsApp access to Siri, reads, “This lets you use Siri to quickly send and read messages and make voice calls.” Of course, the anticipated Siri integration of WhatsApp will only roll out once iOS 10 is released to iPhone users across the globe, expected to happen soon after the next iPhone launch in September.
Apple had introduced the latest version of its mobile operating system at WWDC 2016, and much to the excitement of the crowd brought its voice-based virtual assistant up to speed with competitors like Google Now by allowing third-party developers to extend its functionality. As we mentioned, the source of the rumour is a leaked WhatsApp translation request.
To recall, translation requests have in the past been a good indicator of upcoming features for WhatsApp. The Facebook-owned company uses crowd-sourcing to translate the interface text and messages shown to a user, and these little snippets have in the past leaked out – revealing what the cross-platform instant messenger is looking to soon offer its users. WhatsApp isn’t the only app looking to join forces with Siri. Rumours indicate that even Uber and Netflix may assimilate with the tool to make way for similar ease of access to order a cab or pull up a movie.
No doubt this is rather exciting stuff as it will open up a lot of doors. With Amazon’s Alexa currently being one of the more popular voice assistants right now, and with Google Assistant, it sure looks like Apple picked a great time to start expanding Siri’s capabilities. This is fro now, stay tuned for further updates.
