---
title: "SiriKit is now legacy: how to move to App Intents, step by step"
description: "Apple now calls SiriKit legacy, and the new Siri AI only works with App Intents. Here's how to move your custom intents over, one step at a time."
author: "MH TOUFIK"
published: 2026-11-14T03:00:00.000Z
updated: 2026-11-05T17:57:56.000Z
url: https://toufik.dev/blog/sirikit-to-app-intents-migration
category: "iOS"
tags: ["App Intents", "Siri", "SiriKit", "Swift", "iOS"]
---

# SiriKit is now legacy: how to move to App Intents, step by step

For years, adding Siri to an iOS app meant SiriKit: an `.intentdefinition` file, an Intents extension, and three handler methods for every action. It worked, but nobody loved it.

Now look at Apple's own SiriKit page. It says the SiriKit, Intents and IntentsUI frameworks **"continue to provide legacy support"** for Shortcuts actions, widget configuration and most existing Siri interactions. For anything modern, including **Apple Intelligence and the new Siri AI**, Apple points you to **App Intents**.

So SiriKit isn't switched off, and your old shortcuts still run. But the new Siri won't learn anything about your app through it. Here's what that means, and how to move one intent at a time.

![How SiriKit pieces map to App Intents](https://toufik.dev/media/sirikit-to-app-intents-raw-9a7c9c8e "Each SiriKit piece has a simpler App Intents version.")

## What actually changes for your app

App Intents has been around since **iOS 16**, so this isn't a brand-new framework. What changed is where Apple puts its effort.

With App Intents, your actions and data show up in Siri, Spotlight, the Shortcuts app, widgets and the Action button. And with the **Siri AI Developer Preview**, Siri can find custom content in your app and act on it, even across apps. Apple is very clear that Siri can only do this for actions and content an app "makes explicitly available using App Intents."

Two things to know about the preview. The API **may still change**, and it only works in development builds and for **internal** TestFlight testers, not in App Store builds yet. That's a good reason to start the move now, while it's quiet.

## Step 1: let Xcode convert your intent definition

You don't have to rewrite everything by hand. Open your `.intentdefinition` file and use the **"Convert to AppIntents"** button. Xcode creates an App Intent struct for each custom intent.

Each new struct adopts **`CustomIntentMigratedAppIntent`**. This is the important part: it links the new intent to the old SiriKit one, so **shortcuts and donations your users already have keep working**.

```swift
struct OrderSoup: AppIntent, CustomIntentMigratedAppIntent {
    static let intentClassName = "OrderSoupIntent"
    static let title: LocalizedStringResource = "Order Soup"

    @Parameter(title: "Soup")
    var soup: SoupEntity

    @Parameter(title: "Quantity", default: 1)
    var quantity: Int
}
```

`intentClassName` must match the class name of your old SiriKit intent. Get that wrong and old shortcuts quietly break.

## Step 2: turn parameters into entities

In SiriKit, parameters were custom types you defined in the editor. In App Intents, the things people pick, like a soup, a note or a trail, become **app entities**. You also give each entity a query, so Siri and Shortcuts can find them.

```swift
struct SoupEntity: AppEntity {
    static let typeDisplayRepresentation: TypeDisplayRepresentation = "Soup"
    static let defaultQuery = SoupQuery()

    let id: String
    let name: String
    let stock: Int

    var displayRepresentation: DisplayRepresentation {
        DisplayRepresentation(title: "\(name)")
    }
}

struct SoupQuery: EntityQuery {
    func entities(for identifiers: [String]) async throws -> [SoupEntity] {
        SoupMenu.shared.soups(withIDs: identifiers)
    }

    func suggestedEntities() async throws -> [SoupEntity] {
        SoupMenu.shared.availableSoups()
    }
}
```

Fixed lists, like small, medium and large, become an **`AppEnum`** instead.

My advice: keep entities thin. They point at your real data, they don't replace it.

## Step 3: move resolve, confirm and handle into perform()

This is the part that feels best. In SiriKit, every intent needed separate resolve, confirm and handle steps. In App Intents, Apple says **`perform()` takes over all three**.

```swift
func perform() async throws -> some IntentResult & ProvidesDialog {
    if quantity > soup.stock {
        return .result(dialog: "Sorry, only \(soup.stock) left.")
    }
    try await OrderService.shared.place(soup.id, quantity: quantity)
    return .result(dialog: "Your \(soup.name) is on its way.")
}
```

Checks, errors and the final answer all live in one async function. It reads like normal Swift, because it is.

## Step 4: add App Shortcuts

Donations used to be how Siri learned what your app could do. With App Shortcuts, you list the phrases in code, and they're ready **as soon as the app is installed**. No setup screen for the user.

```swift
struct SoupShortcuts: AppShortcutsProvider {
    static var appShortcuts: [AppShortcut] {
        AppShortcut(
            intent: OrderSoup(),
            phrases: ["Order soup in \(.applicationName)"],
            shortTitle: "Order Soup",
            systemImageName: "takeoutbag.and.cup.and.straw"
        )
    }
}
```

Every phrase must include `\(.applicationName)`. Keep phrases short and natural, the way a person would really say them.

If your action is a common one, like playing music or sending an email, check Apple's **app schema domains** first. Type `@AppIntent(schema:)` and Xcode fills in the intent for you, already shaped the way Siri expects.

## My checklist

1. **List every SiriKit intent** in your app, and note which ones people actually use.
2. **Convert the intent definition** with Xcode, one intent at a time.
3. **Check every `intentClassName`** against the old class names.
4. **Create entities and queries** for each parameter type.
5. **Move resolve, confirm and handle** into `perform()`.
6. **Add App Shortcuts** with two or three real phrases each.
7. **Test old shortcuts** on a device that already had them, then test new phrases.
8. **Try the Siri AI preview** with a development build or internal TestFlight.

## The bottom line

SiriKit still works, and nothing breaks tomorrow. But it's now the past, and App Intents is where Siri, Spotlight and Apple Intelligence are going. Move your most-used intent first. The rest will feel easy after that.

## Sources

- [SiriKit](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/sirikit) — Apple Developer Documentation
- [App Intents](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/appintents) — Apple Developer Documentation
- [Soup Chef with App Intents: Migrating custom intents](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/sirikit/soup-chef-with-app-intents-migrating-custom-intents) — Apple Developer Documentation
- [Siri AI Developer Preview](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/appintents/siri-ai-developer-preview) — Apple Developer Documentation
- [Code-along: Make your app available to Siri](https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2026/344/) — WWDC26