The new feature will be part of Apple’s next iOS 9

May 28, 2015 13:41 GMT  ·  By

Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) is scheduled to take place on June 8, and there we expect to hear the Cupertino tech giant talk about its upcoming iOS 9 update.

And according to a recent report coming out of 9to5Google, Apple is also set to reveal a new search and recommendation tool, which was designed to take on Google Now.

The feature, called “Proactive,” will be a separate affair from Apple’s popular virtual assistant Siri and will be able to leverage information coming from Siri itself, Contacts, Calendar, Passbook plus third-party apps in order to deliver relevant info based on the user’s history and device-usage patterns.

While Siri sits quietly waiting for the user to take initiative and ask a specific question, Google Now has always been the more proactive type. For example, the app is capable of sending a weather alert if it detects that the user is en route.

Apple's new deep-search feat is not an updated Siri

Well, Apple is looking to take the same approach with Proactive, so users working with the service will be able to make device-wide searches from contacts, apps, audio and web results. On top of that, Proactive will be in charge of delivering time-specific reminders about certain events of interest.

For example, if you’re about to hop on a plane, Proactive could tap into your iPhone’s calendar and show you all the forthcoming appointments during the day. Maps will also be integrated into the service, so you will have access to directions, but there's a little twist here.

Apple is said to be working on a new “Browse Around Me” augmented reality layer, which will be superimposed upon the most important locations in Maps.

In the vein of Nokia HERE Maps, the feature will let users scan the area by virtue of holding their phone up and will get all the info about bars or restaurants, including address contact and reviews.

On top of that, the service is said to be able to dive into specific portion of apps, like a certain playlist in Video, thanks to a feature codenamed “Breadcrumbs.” The function brings Google App Indexing vibes and is said to be only a limited version for developers, for the time being.

Proactive is a more intelligent Spotlight

Interestingly though, Proactive is actually considered an evolution of the Spotlight drop-menu in iOS 8, which is used for searching through apps and content on an iOS device. But the new, souped-up feature will be more deeply integrated.

The yet-to-be-released deep search feature will also integrate with regular apps like Facebook and will learn your pattern of accessing the social website. If you tend to do so in the morning, Facebook will be up and ready waiting for you, just as you access Proactive.

Last but not least, we’ll tell you that Proactive will apparently be accessible by swiping left on the an iPhone, like the old Spotlight feature.

The full extent of Proactive will be reveled in the upcoming days at WWDC.