How to Use Siri AI Memory and Excluded Apps in iOS 27.2: Settings, Privacy Controls and Fixes

If you already use Siri AI on an iPhone 15 Pro or newer, update to iOS 27.2 (Settings > General > Software Update) and Siri can now answer questions about things it told you in earlier conversations, such as “the restaurants it recommended last week.” The same update adds an Excluded Apps list (Settings > Siri > Excluded Apps) that stops Siri, Search and suggestions from reading the apps you pick. Those two settings, plus Keep Conversations, are the ones worth checking today, because 27.2 also lets Siri read more of your personal data than before: photos attached in Messages, Calendar event attendees, your voicemails, and Safari history and Reading List. Everything below was checked against Apple’s iOS 27.2 release notes and the Apple Support user guides on October 27, 2026.

Key facts (from Apple, October 26, 2026):

  • What’s new for Siri AI: recall of past conversations, more personal-context sources, Excluded Apps, granular text selection in Siri answers, and five more languages (French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish). (About iOS 27 Updates)
  • iPhones that get Siri AI: iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, all iPhone 16 models and later (Apple’s support page also lists iPhone Duo and iPhone Air). (How to get Siri AI)
  • Not available: in the EU on iOS, iPadOS and watchOS, in mainland China, or for users under 13.
  • Still labeled beta, and server-side features including Siri AI are subject to daily usage limits. Apple says expanded access “will be available for a fee in the future.”
  • Mac, Watch, Vision Pro: macOS Golden Gate 27.2 gets the same Siri memory and wider personal context; watchOS 27.2 gets the Siri updates and, per Apple, faster Siri AI responses.

If you’re comparing assistants, our Gemini 3.6 Flash guide covers Google’s side, and our guide to turning off Google Personal Intelligence is the Google equivalent of the privacy settings below. More guides are on the 7minai homepage.

What changed in iOS 27.2, in plain terms

Siri AI arrived last month in iOS 27 as a rebuilt, chatbot-style Siri with its own Siri app, conversation history synced through iCloud, onscreen awareness, and the ability to act inside apps. iOS 27.2 is the first big update to it. Apple’s release notes list these Siri AI changes:

ChangeWhat it means for you
Recall of past conversationsYou can ask Siri about something it told you before. Apple’s example: “the restaurants it recommended last week.”
More personal-context sourcesSiri can now draw on photos attached in Messages, Calendar event attendees, your voicemails, and “better results” from Safari history and Reading List.
Excluded AppsOne list in Settings that controls which apps Siri, Search and suggestions can access.
Granular text selectionYou can select and copy just part of a Siri answer instead of the whole thing.
More languagesFrench, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish join English.

The non-Siri parts of 27.2 include Suggestions in Messages (for example, offering to add a Calendar invite when a friend proposes dinner), SynthID watermark support in Photos and Image Playground to help spot AI-generated or AI-edited images, and Simple Profiles in the Apple TV app. This guide sticks to the Siri settings, because those are the ones that change what an AI assistant can see and remember about you.

Step 1: Check that your iPhone can run Siri AI

Siri AI needs more than iOS 27.2. According to Apple’s How to get Siri AI page, you need all of the following:

  1. A supported iPhone: iPhone 15 Pro models and later, iPhone 16 models or later, iPhone Duo, or iPhone Air. A regular iPhone 15 or older model can install iOS 27.2 but will keep the older Siri.
  2. Matching languages: your device language and Siri language must be set to the same supported language. As of 27.2 that means English, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese or Spanish.
  3. An eligible Apple Account region: Siri AI isn’t available on iOS in the EU, and it won’t work if your Apple Account region is mainland China. Apple says that once Siri AI is on, it keeps working when you travel to other regions.
  4. Age: Siri AI isn’t available for users under 13.

Other Apple devices that can run Siri AI, per the same page: iPad mini (A17 Pro) and iPads with M1 or later on iPadOS 27; MacBook Neo (A18 Pro) and Macs with M1 or later on macOS 27 Golden Gate; Apple Watch Series 9 or later, Ultra 2 or later and SE 3 when paired with an iPhone that has Siri AI on; and any Apple Vision Pro on visionOS 27. EU residents can use Siri AI on macOS 27 Golden Gate and visionOS 27 if both the device language and Siri language are English.

Step 2: Update to iOS 27.2

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Tap General, then Software Update.
  3. Install iOS 27.2 and let the iPhone restart.

Update your Mac (macOS Golden Gate 27.2), iPad (iPadOS 27.2) and Apple Watch (watchOS 27.2) too if you use Siri on them. Conversation history syncs across devices through iCloud, so it makes sense to have the same version everywhere.

Step 3: Turn on Siri AI (skip if you already have it)

If you never switched from the old Siri, Apple’s Get started with Siri AI guide gives these steps:

  1. Open Settings and tap Siri.
  2. If Siri is off, tap Turn On Siri, then Try Siri AI (Beta). If Siri is already on, tap Try Siri AI (Beta).
  3. Follow the onscreen steps to pick a voice, complete voice enrollment and review your privacy settings.

One thing that catches people out: Apple says this step adds you to a waitlist and “wait times can vary.” Siri AI downloads automatically when your wait is over. If you’ve only just signed up, the memory features below won’t appear until that download finishes.

Step 4: Use Siri’s memory of past conversations

There’s no setup step for this one. After the update, Siri AI can look back at your earlier conversations when you ask about them. Apple’s own example is asking about restaurants Siri recommended last week. In practice, you phrase the request the way you’d ask a friend to remember something:

  • “What were those restaurants you recommended last week?”
  • “Remind me what you told me about my flight on Friday.”
  • “Go back to the packing list we made yesterday and add a phone charger.”

A few things are useful to know about how this fits together:

  • Where the history lives. With Siri AI you get a dedicated Siri app that collects your conversations in one place. Apple’s Siri app guide says the history syncs across devices signed in to the same Apple Account, so a conversation on your iPhone can be continued on your Mac.
  • You can still continue a chat by hand. Open the Siri app, tap a past conversation and keep typing or talking, instead of relying on Siri to find it.
  • Search and pin. In the Siri app’s history, tap the search button to find an old conversation, or touch and hold one and tap Pin to keep it at the top. Touch and hold also gives you Rename.
  • Copy just the part you need. With 27.2’s granular text selection you can select and copy part of a Siri answer, which is handy when you only want the address out of a long reply.

What Apple’s release notes do not describe is a separate on/off switch just for conversation memory. The controls Apple documents are how long conversations are kept, deleting conversations, Excluded Apps, and turning Siri AI off. Those are covered next.

Step 5: Decide how long Siri keeps your conversations

Because Siri can now reuse old conversations, the retention setting matters more than it did. From the Siri app guide:

  1. Open Settings and tap Siri.
  2. Tap Keep Conversations and choose an option.

Apple’s note: “If you choose 30 days or 1 year, older conversations are permanently deleted.” Reviews of iOS 27 describe the third option as Forever. If you want Siri’s memory to reach back months, keep a longer setting. If you’d rather Siri forget quickly, choose 30 days.

In the same Siri settings screen you can also set:

  • Opens To: whether the Siri app opens to Recent Conversations or A New Conversation.
  • Preview: how long the conversation previews in the history are.

Step 6: Delete specific conversations

If there’s one conversation you don’t want Siri to draw on later (a health question, a gift idea, anything you’d rather not resurface), delete it:

  1. Open the Siri app.
  2. To delete one conversation: touch and hold it, tap Delete, then tap Delete again to confirm.
  3. To delete several: tap the button in the top-right corner, tap Select, pick the conversations, tap the delete button, then confirm.

Since the history syncs through iCloud, plan on a deletion applying to your other signed-in devices as well.

Step 7: Keep Siri out of specific apps with Excluded Apps

This is the most useful new privacy control in 27.2. Apple’s Change Siri settings guide explains that when Siri has access to an app, it can find information and take action in that app, and suggest what you might do next. Excluded apps “aren’t available to Siri, Search, or suggestions.” All apps are included by default.

To exclude apps:

  1. Open Settings and tap Siri.
  2. Tap Excluded Apps.
  3. Tap Add Apps, select the apps you want to keep Siri out of, and confirm.

To give an app access again:

  1. Go to Settings > Siri > Excluded Apps.
  2. Tap Edit, tap the remove button next to the app, then tap Delete.
  3. Tap the confirm button when you’re done.

What to consider excluding. Apple doesn’t give a recommended list, so this is a judgment call. Good candidates are apps whose content you’d be uncomfortable seeing quoted back in a Siri answer on a shared screen or on your watch: a private journal, a banking or health app, a work messaging app governed by your employer’s rules, or a dating app. Keep in mind that 27.2 widens Siri’s reach into Messages photos, Calendar attendees, voicemails and Safari history, so if you don’t want those used, the apps involved are Messages, Calendar, Phone and Safari.

The trade-off. Excluding an app also removes it from Search and suggestions, not just Siri. If you exclude Calendar, for example, don’t expect Siri to answer “When is my dentist appointment?” or Search to surface that event. Exclude what you genuinely want walled off and leave the rest.

Step 8: Fine-tune suggestions without fully excluding an app

If you only want to stop the “suggestions” part, not Siri’s access, use the separate Suggestions screen instead (Settings > Siri > Suggestions). Per Apple’s guide you can turn off Allow Notifications, Show in App Library, Show When Sharing and Show Listening Suggestions, or tap a specific app and turn off options like Show in App. That last one matters in 27.2, because the new Suggestions in Messages feature offers actions based on your conversations. If you find those offers intrusive, tap Messages in that list and turn off Show in App.

Step 9: The bigger switches (Screen Time, Siri Classic, turning Siri off)

If Excluded Apps isn’t enough, Apple documents three heavier options in its Apple Intelligence settings guide:

  • Screen Time: you can choose which Siri features you can use and which content Siri can access in Screen Time settings. This is also where parents manage it on a child’s device.
  • Switch to Siri Classic: in Settings > Siri, scroll down, tap Turn Off Siri and confirm, then tap Turn on Siri and choose Siri Classic. You lose Siri AI (and its memory) but keep the old assistant.
  • Turn Siri off entirely: Settings > Siri, scroll down, Turn Off Siri, then confirm.

Using it on Mac and Apple Watch

Apple’s macOS Golden Gate 27.2 notes say Siri AI can now “retain useful context from previous Siri interactions as well as draw from a wider range of personal context,” and the update adds Suggestions in Messages that can create items in Calendar and Reminders. Apple’s iOS notes don’t say whether the Excluded Apps list carries over to the Mac, so check Siri settings on each device you use rather than assuming one list covers everything.

For Apple Watch, 9to5Mac reports Apple says Siri AI responds faster in watchOS 27.2. Remember the Watch only gets Siri AI when it’s paired with an iPhone that has Siri AI turned on.

Costs and limits

Siri AI doesn’t have a price today, but it isn’t unlimited. Apple’s footnote on every Siri AI support page says features that rely on server-side models, “including but not limited to Siri AI,” are subject to daily usage limits that “may vary by feature, request complexity, system demand, system policies, and other factors,” and that “expanded access to such features will be available for a fee in the future.” Apple hasn’t published the limits or a price, so if Siri suddenly stops giving full answers after a long session, a daily limit is a likely reason.

Troubleshooting

I don’t see Try Siri AI (Beta) in Settings. Check the four requirements in Step 1. The usual causes are an unsupported iPhone (anything below iPhone 15 Pro), a device language and Siri language that don’t match, or an Apple Account region in the EU or mainland China. Note that the Siri language must be one of the six supported languages; Apple Intelligence’s wider language list (which includes Chinese) doesn’t apply to Siri AI yet.

I tapped Try Siri AI but nothing changed. You’re probably on the waitlist. Apple says wait times vary and Siri AI downloads automatically once the wait is over.

Siri doesn’t remember a conversation I know I had. Check that the conversation still exists in the Siri app history. If Keep Conversations is set to 30 days or 1 year, older conversations were permanently deleted. Also check that you’re signed in to the same Apple Account on the device where the conversation happened, since history syncs through iCloud. Third-party testers note that very short commands like “set a timer” aren’t always saved to history.

Siri won’t answer questions about an app’s content. Look in Settings > Siri > Excluded Apps. If the app is on the list, Siri can’t access it. Remove it there if you want Siri to use it again.

Search stopped finding things from an app. Same cause: Excluded Apps also hides the app from Search and suggestions.

I’m in the EU. Siri AI isn’t offered on iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch in the EU. Apple does offer it on macOS 27 Golden Gate and visionOS 27 when both device and Siri language are English.

Siri switched languages or stopped working after I changed language. Device language and Siri language must match and both be supported. Change them back under Settings > Siri > Language and your device language settings.

FAQ

Is Siri AI memory the same as ChatGPT’s memory? They solve a similar problem, but Apple describes Siri’s version as recalling your past conversations, which live in the Siri app and sync through iCloud. Apple doesn’t describe a separate list of saved “memories” you can edit, so the way to control it is through conversation retention and deletion.

Can I turn off only the memory feature? Apple’s release notes and support guides don’t list a dedicated switch for it. The documented controls are Keep Conversations, deleting conversations, Excluded Apps, Screen Time restrictions, switching to Siri Classic, or turning Siri off.

Does Excluded Apps work for apps I install later? Apple says all apps are included by default, so a newly installed app is visible to Siri until you add it to the list.

Does 27.2 make Siri AI available in Chinese? No. The 27.2 additions are French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish, and Siri AI remains unavailable in mainland China.

Is it still a beta? Yes. Apple labels it Siri AI (Beta) throughout its documentation, so expect occasional wrong answers and changes in future updates.

Sources