Extending Your iOS Apps with SiriKit – Useful Insights

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iOS 10 can now be revamped with a SiriKit, enabling developers and business owners integrate with the voice assistant Siri, offering users a more intuitive experience.

Last week my 4-year old niece was watching a video on my iPhone. Unintentionally, she did a long press on the home button, and there came a voice ‘Hi Hina,’ and she was amazed to hear that.

She got so excited that she kept talking to my phone for one hour. My niece asked me ’Aunt, who is this talking?’ I said, ‘She is Siri.’ And then they have become great friends.

Smart technology has not just disrupted the business processes and the world’s economy, but they have also created an emotional connect with the kids. Especially a congenial voice like Siri, has spiffed up the kids of today. And when it comes to logic, Apple’s Siri hold all aces.

The recent release of iOS 10 has announced a new SiriKit- a new framework that integrates with Siri and let iOS app developers and app owners deliver more enriching experiences for the users. In fact, this has been one of the most desired frontiers in the iOS app development- to extend mobile applications to talk to Siri. And now it’s here- compatible with iOS 10.

With the SiriKit, app developers can explore new design principles for building a seamless Siri interaction. An app linked with Siri will surely stand tall on the Apple App Store and be loved by the iPhone enthusiasts. You can imagine if for yourself- how will it be if Siri can book an Uber for you? So much fun, right?

To create a super smart app by adding the voice interaction of Siri, developers need to know about Intents and other app extensions that were added in iOS 8. Let’s gain insight.

What are Intents in iOS

Intents is an app extension to perform interactions with SiriKit. While the Intents app extension handles most interactions with SiriKit, your app- be it iOS or watchOS- needs to be cognizant of those interactions. In most cases, the app needs to actually actively involve making those interactions happen.

The types of apps that can be used with Siri while using Intents include Messaging, Payments, Photos, Cab booking, Restaurant Reservations, CarPlay, VoIP calling, Workouts. We’re hoping to have more domains added to this list.
Before adding the Intents extension target to your project, you need to do the following

Enable Siri Capability

For using the SiriKit, you must first enable the Siri capability in your app, which further adds a set of powers to the app. As per App Store guidelines, these entitlements are required to be owned by any iOS or watchOS app with the Intents extension. So how do you proceed:

  • Open the app project in XCode
  • In project Settings, select the appropriate target- iOS app target for iOS and WatchKit extension target for watchOS
  • Select the Capabilities tab, and enable the Siri capability like below

Siri
Source: developer.apple.com

Add an Intents App Extension to Your Project

After enabling the Siri capability, you can now add a new Intents app extension to your project. You may add more than one Intents extension but remember that each extension must support different intents. Building of multiple extensions is only recommended if its reduces memory trail of each extension or gives your app a performance advantage.

  • Open your existing app project in XCode
  • Select Intents extension from Application Extension Group
  • Then click Next
  • Give a name to your extension, configure preferred language and other options
  • Enable the Include UI Extension if you want to customize parts of Siri interface
  • Click Finish

siri interface
Source: developer.apple.com

Specify the Intents Your App Supports

Once you are done adding the Intent extension configure the Info.plist file provided by XCode. This is important to specify what Intents you support. Further, SiriKit uses the information displayed by your extension target’s Info.plist file in order to identify what intents to direct to your extension.

And if you are doing it for your watchOS, remember to add those Intents that are a subset of your iOS app. Else, it is considered a programmer error. Some Intents may demand extra steps of configuration. For instance, a location-based app-like a cab booking app or the Pokémon Go gaming app wants you to provide GeoJSON file, which defines the coverage area of your apps service.

In the end, you must test your app’s Intents extension. XCode supports direct debugging while your code runs in the simulator or on any device.

One thing to note here is that as soon as you install your app, Siri may not immediately recognize your app and start functioning. It will require few minutes before you release any relevant command to the app.

What’s Next in Siri?

Apple’s Siri will also get a host of new features with the arrival of iOS 11 this fall, as announced by Apple VP Craig Federighi in one of the recent events. One of the most striking features would be to say your words in some other language- from English to Chinese to Spanish to German to French to Italian. Siri can speak over 20 languages, which is indeed its biggest strength, when compared with any other AI voice assistant like Amazon Alexa, Microsoft Cortana.

Experts at Apple Inc. say that with iOS 14 in the future, Siri will not just be smarter and powerful than ever but will play a major role across the entire iOS. It will open up to more of Siri’s assistant capabilities like surfacing reminders about your day based on other iOS apps, extending to emails, photo sharing and everyday alarms. We’ll see a brainier Siri, making iOS app development more advanced and transformative.

Over to You

So, if you want users to have a voice assistant and let them enjoy more interactive interface on your iOS app, get the SiriKit integration from our experts. Ranked as a top iOS app development company, our iOS app developers are adept in latest technology and tools and can do it the best for you because we have a proven track record in delivering meaningful, addictive iOS apps to our client’s customers. We’d love to do it for you.

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About Author
Heena Banga

Heena Banga

Heena Banga is a Senior Content Developer at Konstant Infosolutions- a globally recognized mobile application development company. She leads marketing and growth initiatives at the company using a mix of technical and business content tactics. Heena also contributes articles to CrowdReviews, OpenSourceForU, Sociableblog, ducttapemarketing, PAYMILL blog. She hopes to enjoy a business conversation onboard a commercial space flight someday. Her ultimate goal is to combine business and writing and go into Advertising.

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