Apple’s smarter Siri practically does everything for you

Apple is taking the stage again on Monday — and Siri had better sing.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based tech giant is expected to unveil new features for its voice-powered assistant, connecting it to other apps so users can tell their iPhones to hail Uber rides, tweet photos, play music and make restaurant reservations.

It’s a game of catchup for Siri, critics say, which faces stepped-up competition from newer, nimbler voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant.

For the first time, tech blogs also speculate that Siri may become available on Apple’s Mac computers.

Siri isn’t the only Apple product that has lagged the pack as Chief Executive Tim Cook takes the stage at the company’s annual World Wide Developer Conference.

A major update is also expected for Apple Music. The music-streaming service aimed to unseat Spotify with its launch at least year’s WWDC, but critics have called it a confusing mess.

Likewise, some predict the aging iTunes music-downloading service may get folded into the Apple Music app.

Elsewhere, there has been speculation that Apple could launch a peer-to-peer payments service to compete with Venmo, possibly by combining features of Apple Pay with its iMessage texting app.

Insiders also expect software tweaks for the Apple TV and Apple Watch, both of which have disappointed some users and investors. But those hoping for redesigned MacBook Pros will likely be disappointed.

“Overall, we view WWDC as a warm up to more meaningful announcements in the fall,” Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said, predicting the launch of iPhone 7 and an updated Apple Watch.