“ Hey Siri , book me a table for four multitude , 7 PM , at Blue Tokai coffee workshop in New Friends Colony . ”
“ Do you need me to use ChatGPT to answer that ? ”
That ’s how my exchange with Siri went an hour ago . I tried again , and Apple ’s AI assistant open up a Map overview with directions to a article of furniture shop , a coaching essence , and a dessert workshop called Lunch on Table .
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends
None of the responses fulfil my asking . Not even remotely .
Next , I trade to the Perplexity app and utter the same voice bid . It instantly open a web preview where the desire reserve details were filled , and I only had to corroborate the booking to get the job done .
The Perplexity iOS Voice Assistant not only picked up my prerequisite on the dot , but also did all the WWW browse , information feeding , and took activity on my behalf in one go . you may match out the results below , and wonder how one of the oldest AI assistant failed stunningly against an upstart .
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends
What is Perplexity Assistant?
In the macrocosm of AI assistants such as Google ’s Gemini , OpenAI ’s ChatGPT , and Microsoft ’s Copilot , the Perplexity Assistant is an baby at best . It was introduced in January 2025 for Android twist , throw its style to iPhones in April .
Now , Perplexity is not a tech goliath . Yet , the AI - powered locomotive engine it has produce has come through it an ardent fan base and for good intellect . In the recent hebdomad it has introduced animpressive set of feature of speech , including Deep Research , Spaces , and Pages .
The right part of Perplexity is its cognition engine , which works somewhat like the answers from a chatbot , but more detailed and with proper sources , alongside come - up query templates . I was , however , not expecting it to meaningfully excel Siri at real - humankind job , the kind of hooey that I would expect from a next - gen AI helper .
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Beating Siri in Apple’s backyard
I was utterly surprised when Perplexity Assistant did a better job within Apple ’s own ecosystem of products than Siri itself . I asked Siri to make for The circumspection ’s “ The a La menthe . ” It just say that it could n’t find the racetrack on Apple Music .
Despite butchering the French pronunciation of the call , Perplexity Assistant not only understood my voice query , but also instantly started the playback from Apple Music . All this happen within a twosome of seconds , and I was take heed to the peppy tunes without ever leaving the Perplexity app .
Siri , in fact , can be comically spoilt . “ Find me a decent coffee shop where I can posture and get body of work done ? ” I ask . “ I ’ll need to utilize ChatGPT to publish that , ” the Apple assistant coldly responded .
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends
To the same inquiry , Perplexity Assistant right away opened an Apple Maps overview in the upper one-half of the screen , narrated some of the nice options near me , and also gave me a list of sources which it pulled the recommendations from .
These recommendations , thankfully , were not AI pigswill . Some were pulled from Reddit ribbon talk about the same enquiry , a couple were from Instagram , and one of them was from a widely used dining app .
The sleep of the information was hoard from TripAdvisor and a few true web site . In a nutshell , Perplexity not only got the task done , but also pulled it off by accompany a path you’re able to see and trustingness .
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends
It can talk with apps
One of the biggest strengths of Perplexity Io Voice Assistant is that it can get work done across other apps , which includes Apple ’s own and third - party software . Interestingly , it does a far good problem than Siri in both scenario .
When I postulate Siri to play a video recording where YouTube cobalt - founder , Jawed Karim , was talking about the political program ’s early days at a commencement ceremony , it failed poorly . Moreover , it asked me if thequery could be offloaded to ChatGPT , where I could n’t get what I was count for , either .
When I establish Perplexity Assistant and prescribe the same query , it set in motion YouTube within an in - app preview windowpane and start play the TV I wanted to watch out . Notably , it scantily ever struggled with orthoepy or wrong spelling , despite English not being my aboriginal language .
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends
Perplexity Assistant can deal cross - app workflows , even though the list is not extensive . For now , it can handle platforms such as Mail , Apple Podcast , YouTube , Apple Music , Calendar , Reminder , Maps , Uber , and OpenTable for restaurant reservation .
It does a fantastic job of handling the aforementioned service of process . When I ask Siri to book me a drive to the Delhi drome , it started looking for transportation directions to “ Signpost Delhi Airport . ” Perplexity Assistant set in motion Uber , filled in the source and finish , and land me direct on the booking Sir Frederick Handley Page .
Of course , I was ready for more frustrations . So , I asked Siri to pen an electronic mail and send it to my editor , tell him about an assignment . It copied my voice command , word for give-and-take , but instead of opening the “ email ” app ( like I asked ) , it first had me pick between Mail , Teams , and Messages .
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends
I use Mail for sending emails , Siri . We all do !
When I asked the same of Perplexity iOS Voice Assistant , it drafted a nicely written formal electronic mail to my editor program and landed me direct to the Mail in - app instance . All I had to do was tap on the send button .
Another area where Perplexity Assistant fares better than Siri is noesis search . I asked it to look up thelaunch escort of Samsung ’s Galaxy S25 Edge , and it gave me an accurate answer , alongside the latest sources it pulled the entropy from .
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends
Siri could n’t do it directly . or else , it first asked me whether it could offload the interrogation to ChatGPT . When I consented to it , I was taken to the ChatGPT app where I got my answer . If you do n’t have the chatbot app set up , you will be redirect to a web browser page .
It ’s a pot of unnecessary hassle . I also had a better experience setting up event alerts in Reminders via Perplexity Assistant than Siri . At the end of the day , Apple ’s practical assistant started to sense like a token in the look of modern AI assistants .
concord to some report card , Siri ’s estrus is not going off anytime presently – althoughthere ’s a chance Apple announces improvementsatWWDC 2025 in June . Meanwhile , the pace at which Perplexity has evolved is truly dumbfounding .
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends
in person , I do n’t see myself pass back to Siri anytime soon . Perplexity Io Voice Assistant will detain as my daily driver for the foreseeable future . I just wish I could set up it as the default option voice assistant on my telephone set .
