Perplexity Voice Assistant for iOS Adds Web Browsing & Multi-App Actions

A recent update to Perplexity’s iOS app made the company’s conversational AI voice assistant compatible. Activating the assistant within the app allows users to ask it to do things like compose emails, make reminders, and book supper.

A new voice assistant for iOS has started to be released by Perplexity. The new voice assistant, which is powered by the company’s in-house artificial intelligence (AI) answer engine, can browse the web and access various apps to accomplish tasks. The Perplexity Assistant for Android smartphones and tablets was released by the firm three months prior to the release of the AI assistant for iPhone devices. The AI company claims that the voice assistant is capable of doing sophisticated duties including sending calendar invites and emails, as well as making reservations at restaurants.

Even though it doesn’t yet enable screen sharing like Android does, you may still talk to Perplexity after leaving the app. Some of the conversational AI features Apple has promised for Siri, which is powered by Apple Intelligence, may still be more than a year away. Additionally, Perplexity’s assistant can perform these tasks on older devices, such as my iPhone 13 mini, in contrast to Apple Intelligence.

Perplexity announced the launch of their iOS voice assistant via a post on X (previously Twitter). The AI assistant can be accessed by users who have already loaded the Perplexity app on their iPhone by updating the app. The feature doesn’t require users to download another application and is currently free.

You can launch the Perplexity Assistant app on your phone and tap the waveform icon next to the text field in the lower right corner of the interface. This brings up a full-screen image of the AI helper, which appears as a globe of glittering particles. You can ask a question, and the chatbot will either fully answer it or take the necessary action.

All of Siri’s query-based functions are available to it, along with the majority of on-device functions like phoning a contact, turning on and off the flashlight, and setting an alarm or reminder.

In order to accomplish some challenging tasks, it can also access certain apps on the device. To “book a table for two at the Taj Hotel tomorrow at 2:30pm,” for example, Perplexity Assistant will have to be able to access either the hotel’s reservation page or a third-party website that is compatible. After entering your information, it would send you the page so you could make any last-minute changes before reserving a table.

According to Perplexity, the voice assistant can also locate items to purchase online and send calendar invites and emails. It is important to remember that the AI helper lacks agentic capabilities and is unable to act on its own. It can compose an email or complete a form, but you will need to press the confirmation button at the end.

Recent actions have been taken by the AI-powered search engine to boost its uptake. A bot that can answer user questions when tagged in a post reply was previously added to X. A rumour claims that Perplexity has also reached an agreement with Motorola to include the AI assistant into its next generation of smartphones.

This video demo posted on X by Perplexity tells more on what the application can do.

Also a representative for Perplexity informed TheVerge during the January release of the Android version that it will be available on iPhones and iPads as soon as “Apple gives us the right permissions,” and it appears that this has been arranged.

He requested his iPhone to set a reminder for him to begin cooking at 7 PM after downloading Perplexity for the first time today. A pop-up window requesting permission to view the reminders was displayed to him. He agreed, and as he anticipated, the reminder was inserted. As anticipated, Perplexity requested access to his contacts when he attempted to compose a text message. Although he declined, he was grateful that the assistant didn’t fail him entirely and instead asked him to only say the intended phone number.

As demonstrated in the Perplexity video demo, TheVerge writer also explains the attempt to reserve a table at a restaurant. Its mobile assistant launched Open Table and input the times and dates I spoke aloud. However, you will still need to finish the procedure in the window; the actions are not end-to-end. Additionally, Perplexity can launch my Uber app and arrange for a journey. 

On iOS, Perplexity’s voice assistant has additional restrictions. Unlike other AI helpers like ChatGPT and Grok, you cannot instruct it to glance at your camera and “see” what you see for context. However, you may still ask questions about a photo using the conventional text-based chatbot. Additionally, you will still need to use Siri to set the scheduled alarms on your iPhone.

With the necessary user permissions, the Voice Assistant can do a number of things, including the following:

Creating and sending email drafts

Making calls and sending messages

Managing smart home appliances

delivering traffic updates and directions via Apple Maps

Putting reminders in place

Making an Uber reservation

Calendar event scheduling and editing

Playing Podcasts: Searching and Subscribing

Playing videos and music

Responding to inquiries about general knowledge

Using booking websites to make reservations

To accomplish these tasks, Voice Assistant can use the Perplexity iOS app to explore the web and execute multi-app actions.

Large language models such as xAi’s Grok-2, Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro, Anthropic’s Claude 3.7 Sonnet, and OpenAI’s GPT-4.1 are used by Perplexity. The screen sharing feature that allows the assistant to view and interact with content on the user’s screen is currently absent from the iOS app compared to the Android version of Perplexity. Perplexity is available for free from the App Store with in-app purchases, and it syncs across devices.