A subtle but surprisingly major shift is tucked inside the latest iOS 26.2 beta: Apple seems to be laying the groundwork for letting some iPhone users replace Siri as the default assistant summoned by the Side Button. If it rolls out, it would be the first time a long-press on that button could trigger something other than Apple’s own voice assistant.
The clue comes from text strings discovered in iOS 26.2 beta 3, buried inside Apple’s private Siri frameworks. The messages spell things out pretty clearly, with lines like “Press and Hold to Speak is not available while the Side Button is assigned to %@,” “Select Another Default Side Button App,” and warnings that the default Side Button app “cannot be hidden” or “cannot be locked.” There are also alerts for when an app “is no longer eligible for use with the Side Button” or when it’s unavailable “in your region.”
This capability will only be available to iPhone users in Japan—specifically those whose devices and Apple IDs are registered in the country. In plain terms, it means people in Japan could soon assign the long-press Side Button gesture to a third-party assistant such as Google’s Gemini, Amazon Alexa, or any other approved voice assistant app instead of Siri. And it also means iPhone users in Japan could finally try the newer, more capable AI features that have become common in 2025.
The timing isn’t random. Japan passed the Mobile Software Competition Act in August, and it officially kicks in this December. One of its requirements is that platform holders can’t give their own virtual assistants exclusive access to hardware triggers or system-level features. The arrival of these code snippets in iOS 26.2 lines up almost perfectly with that deadline.
There’s been speculation that the EU might get a similar option under the Digital Markets Act, which forces “gatekeepers” like Apple to give third-party developers access to the same hardware hooks and to let users easily switch defaults. For now, though, Apple’s documentation is firm: Side Button reassignment is Japan-only.
For anyone outside Japan hoping for a smarter AI experience, there is a bit of good news: recent reports suggest Apple has been working with companies like Google to bring third-party AI enhancements to Siri itself.
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