41.1 Siri and SiriKit
Most iOS users will no doubt be familiar with Siri, Apple’s virtual digital assistant. Pressing and holding the home button, or saying “Hey Siri” launches Siri and allows a range of tasks to be performed by speaking in a conversational manner. Selecting the playback of a favorite song, asking for turn-by-turn directions to a location or requesting information about the weather are all examples of tasks that Siri can perform in response to voice commands.
When an app integrates with SiriKit, Siri handles all of the tasks associated with communicating with the user and interpreting the meaning and context of the user’s words. Siri then packages up the user’s request into an intent and passes it to the iOS app. It is then the responsibility of the iOS app to verify that enough information has been provided in the intent to perform the task and to instruct Siri to request any missing information. Once the intent contains all of...