Apple plans to bring more third party apps to Siri for iWatch

Apple is known to be working on a Healthbook app for the iWatch, and now the company is believed to be developing some advanced features for its voice assistant Siri, keeping the smartwatch in mind. According to a report by The Information, Apple is working to bring more third party apps and services to Siri.

Apple reportedly plans to improve Siri’s search capabilities and broaden its skill set, in order to help devices with smaller displays. The company wants Siri to be capable of smarter features such as booking a car rental, making a hotel reservation and so on, something it is not capable of doing today. The company also plans to enable third-party integrations that negate one-to-one business arrangements between Apple and the external company, says the report.

 

Making it even smarter, Apple would also like Siri to put forth an app automatically on the device with constrained display size, reports TechCrunch. For instance, once a user starts jogging, the running app automatically pops on the smartwatch screen. It also looks like it is planning to increase convenience features on devices with smaller displays, which is a strong indication that the rumoured iWatch may soon become a reality. Moreover, it is trying to make Siri more intelligent, transforming it into an actual assistant rather than a mere add-on feature.

According to previous reports, Apple is testing flexible OLED displays in different sizes. Flexible OLED displays have already been made by LG and Samsung, so Apple is rumoured to be working with one of these companies for it. The company is believed to be trying out 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5-inch displays, while reports suggest prototype of a 1.5-inch flexible OLED display for a smartwatch has already been made.

The iWatch is also cited as the reason for a sudden interest in health tracking apps within Apple. The Healthbook app could reportedly monitor users’ vital signs such as heart rate, blood pressure, hydration levels, and also glucose levels. While the iWatch is said to work like a smart band that athletes and fitness freaks could use to track their day-to-day exercise.

On the other hand, Google is also reportedly working to improve the abilities of its Google Now assistant. Google Now provides search-based features to users and is known to be building a “semantic index” that would increase its predictive powers and search capabilities. Besides, rumours around the Google smartwatch have also begun to gather pace.