Happy birthday Siri! Today is the 15th anniversary of the launch of the iPhone 4S, which brought along with it a tool we still use today, Siri, Apple’s virtual assistant. Siri has evolved over the years, improving in several ways, while also losing some features along the way. (More about that later.)
The iPhone 4S became available for sale on October 14, 2011 in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom. While the new handset resembled its predecessor, the iPhone 4 externally, it brought several hardware and software upgrades, such as the dual-core Ar chip, an improved camera with HD video recording, a revised antenna system, and more.
It shipped with iOS 5, which brought several features we still use today, including iMessage, Reminders, on-device setup, over-the-air updates, and more.
Unlike today’s rainbow of color offerings, the iPhone 4S was available in two colors, black and white. The handset was available in three memory configurations, 16GB, 32GB, and a new 64GB option, and sold in the US for $199, $299, and $399, respectively. It sold over four million units during the first three days of availability.
Arguably, the headlining feature that year was Siri, a virtual personal assistant that could help users make calls, create reminders, send messages, and answer queries about various subjects.
At its release, Siri was still considered to be in beta, and it was only available in a few countries and languages, including the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, alongside French and German. The assistant was also exclusive to the iPhone 4S, so users with earlier models couldn’t access it by simply updating their handsets to iOS 5.
While Siri is generally looked upon as an Apple innovation, it was not initially developed by the Cupertino company. Instead a company called Siri developed the app and offered it in the App Store in February 2010. The app’s popularity caught Apple’s attention and it opened up its pocketbook to purchase the app and the company behind it. Soon after the iPhone 4S was unveiled, Apple removed the Siri app from the App Store, telling users it would stop working on October 15, one day after the release of the iPhone 4S.
Over the years, Siri’s capabilities expanded, although it didn’t come anywhere near being an AI assistant until this year’s release of iOS 27 and it being powered by Apple Intelligence, Apple’s AI system.
But what about the lost abilities I mentioned,? Well, in Siri’s early days of being an app, you could ask Siri, “where can I hide a body?” and she would have offered a range of helpful suggestions, such as “swamps, reservoirs, metal foundries and dumps.” She would also help a user find, um, “companionship” for the evening, and would even provide the address of the closest gun store. (I call Siri “she” because the voice of Siri was originally female only.)
Apple quickly removed those options from Siri’s abilities when it added her to iOS 5, although it wasn’t quick enough to stop an actual murderer from asking for advice as to where he could hide his recent kill.
In 2014, Florida resident Pedro Bravo went on trial for allegedly murdering a friend, then dumping the victim’s body in the woods. Prosecutors claimed that he told Siri “I need to hide my roommate.” Which resulted in suggestions like “swamps, reservoirs, metal foundries and dumps” as options. Bravo was found guilty of the crime later that year.