Why Does Siri Look the Same on My iPhone, Even in iOS 18.1?

Now that iOS 18.1 with Apple Intelligence is released, you're probably eager to try out new features like notification summaries, writing tools and the Clean Up feature in Photos. But if you're like me, at the top of the list is that new Siri animation, along with a smarter Siri.

Gone is the animated sphere at the bottom of the iPhone screen, replaced with a new design that fills the edges of the entire screen with a glowing spectrum of colors, visibly warping objects as if the screen is made of liquid or iridescent fabric.

The new design of Siri is a glowing border that distorts everything briefly.

Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET

And yet, if you've installed iOS 18.1 you may still be seeing the familiar Siri sphere. There are a couple reasons it might not be showing up.

Your iPhone might not be able to run Apple Intelligence

The latest system update is for everyone with an iPhone XS or later, but that doesn't mean everyone gets Apple Intelligence. In fact, because much of the AI computation is done on device, only a handful of models can run the new technologies:

iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Plus iPhone 16 Pro iPhone 16 Pro Max

Apple Intelligence will also run on Macs and iPads with M-series processors, as well as the latest iPad mini (which is powered by the A17 Pro chip).

If you have any of those models, you'll see the shimmering new look when you invoke Siri. On the Mac, the Siri search field gets the same effect instead of the entire screen edges. If you have a different model, you'll see the same Siri orb.

Siri under iOS 18 looks the same as it did in iOS 17 for many people.

Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET

You might be idling on the Apple Intelligence waitlist

Officially, Apple Intelligence is considered a beta feature, even on supported devices. As part of this prerelease program, Apple is granting access to people who request it in waves. (For more, I wrote about why Apple is using this waitlist approach.)

After installing iOS 18.1 (or iPadOS 18.1 or MacOS Sequoia 15.1), you need to go to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri and tap Join the Apple Intelligence Waitlist > Join Waitlist. The new Siri effect shows up only after you've requested and been granted access.

Reports online and from friends suggest that people are able to start using Apple Intelligence after only a few hours of waiting. That will no doubt fluctuate as Apple balances the demand on its network of Private Cloud Compute infrastructure.

For more, here are seven settings you want to change in iOS 18 and here's the right way to back up your iPhone before you install iOS 18.