AI for iOS: MCP for Apple Intelligence on the way
The Model Context Protocol makes it easy to connect AI systems. This will soon be possible with the iPhone.
Apple Intelligence: Interface planned?
(Image: Apple)
Combining AI systems and agent-based solutions is the goal of the Model Context Protocol (MCP) developed by Anthropic. With a bit of luck, Apple could bring the technology to the iPhone very soon: as part of iOS 26.1. There are now good, initial indications of this in the beta code for the update, which will probably be released in October. In addition to iOS, it will also be available on the iPad (with iPadOS 26.1) and Mac (with macOS 26.1), reports the Apple blog 9to5Mac, which discovered the code leaks. MCP makes it possible to connect AI systems with data sources and remove the isolation of individual LLMs. The creators hope that it will become an open standard similar to the HTTP web protocol.
App intents with MCP?
Apple apparently wants to integrate MCP into its App Intents framework. This should enable Apple Intelligence—and in particular an improved voice assistant, Siri—to interact with applications. This also includes reading app statuses. For this to work, however, developers need to take action. As Apple had initially postponed the context-sensitive Siri until next year, little has been done here so far. However, app intents can also work with the Spotlight search, use the Shortcuts app, and even intercept hardware interactions.
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With MCP, developers could access much more than just Siri and/or Apple Intelligence. At system level, app activities and the availability of data and functions could ultimately be used for all AI platforms that support MCP. In addition to Anthropics Clause, this also includes ChatGPT from OpenAI as well as various other large language models and AI applications.
MCP at Apple only at the beginning
However, the code leak does not indicate that MCP will be available directly with iOS 26.1 and co. This could also just be initial preparatory work before the context-sensitive Siri is (hopefully) released next spring. “The code found today indicates that MCP support is still in its infancy,” writes 9to5Mac. It could still “take a while” before the integration is available. Even an official announcement is probably still some time away.
Apple is currently pursuing a multi-pronged strategy: Apple Intelligence is based on its language models, but users can also use ChatGPT as an alternative. Google Gemini could also be ready in the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, it was even rumored that Apple would source the LLM for the context-sensitive Siri (or its chatbot-like successor) directly from Google.
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