Ahead of WWDC, Siri spotted talking about the ‘Finder’ (Siri for Mac incoming?)

Siri is widely expected to make up a big part of Monday’s WWDC keynote (alongside iOS 10, macOS 10.12 and more) but it seems like it is already inadvertently tipping the hat on what is going to be announce. Brian Roemelle found that by asking the voice assistant about “windows” on his phone, Siri would start referencing the “Finder” app in its responses.

Obviously, iOS doesn’t have a Finder app but OS X does. It seems like Siri is unintentionally leaking the unveiling of Siri for Mac ahead of schedule, or perhaps even a brand new Finder app for iOS 10 …

Siri’s responses are inconsistent — it only occasionally answers with the “It doesn’t look like you have an app named ‘Finder’.” statement. Most of the time, it responds as you would expect — simply saying it can’t perform that action or doesn’t understand the question.

As the trigger question doesn’t include the phrase ‘Finder’ at all, though, it is a very convincing discovery. Clearly, something is up for Siri to have learned about an application called Finder.

Try it for yourself by asking Siri to ‘open settings in the window’ on your iPhone but be patient as the interesting reply only happens occasionally.

A revamped file system for iOS 10 centering around a new Finder app is a possibility but the more likely meaning of this ‘leak’ is a signal of Siri to Mac. 9to5Mac first reported that Apple’s voice assistant would be a flagship feature of OS X 10.12 in February. Possible iconography for the feature has also leaked out since then.

Alongside Siri for Mac, it seems like a big upgrade in functionality for Siri in general is on the cards. At least with iOS 10, Siri will likely gain an API for developers to integrate third-party apps into the voice assistant, expanding the capabilities of Siri dramatically.

Check our full roundup of what to expect at WWDC and stay tuned to 9to5Mac for full coverage of the event as it happens. Vote on what you want to see from iOS 10 and pick your favorite branding for the next OS X version, which will integrate Siri for the first time. The keynote starts at 10 AM PT on Monday.