Apple's new Siri app will let you choose how long it keeps your chat history
Apple is giving Siri users direct control over how long their conversation history sticks around — a move that doubles as a privacy pitch and a quiet acknowledgment of the trust damage caused by the Apple $95M Siri settlement over unintended activations. The feature is expected to debut at WWDC 2026, which opens June 8, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
The options
The redesigned Siri app will offer three retention settings: delete conversations after 30 days, after one year, or keep them indefinitely. That mirrors how iMessage already handles conversation history — familiar territory for iPhone users. A separate toggle will let you decide whether Siri carries context from one conversation to the next, or treats each new request as a fresh session.
Per 9to5Mac, the app is expected to launch under a beta label at WWDC, with a wider public release tied to iOS 27 in fall 2026.
The privacy play
Apple's argument is straightforward: privacy should be built into the system, not buried in a settings menu as an opt-in. Most AI services — including OpenAI's ChatGPT — use conversation data to train and improve their models. OpenAI's Temporary Chat mode does limit retention, but it still holds conversations for 30 days by default for safety reasons.
Apple, by contrast, relies heavily on synthetic data rather than real user exchanges for model training. Gurman notes this may slow feature development compared to rivals, but Apple is banking on that trade-off as a selling point rather than a liability.
The framing matters in the US, where skepticism about AI data practices has grown sharply. The 2024 Siri settlement — which found Apple had inadvertently recorded private conversations — left a real dent in user trust. User-controlled deletion directly addresses that concern.
What to watch
The new Siri app also adds conversation history and file upload capabilities, nudging it closer to ChatGPT's feature set. Whether privacy controls are enough to close the gap in raw AI performance is the bigger question heading into WWDC. The beta period should make that clearer before iOS 27 ships to the public this fall.
