With iOS 10, Siri’s Chinese just got a lot better

Apple may have had a rough few months in China, but it’s not giving up anytime soon. At its WWDC conference on Monday, the company announced a number of updates and new features aimed at users in the People’s Republic.

The biggest was the company cracking open Siri to developers, allowing third-party apps to take advantage of Apple’s voice assistant. Chinese ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing and messenging app WeChat are in at the ground floor.

Siri now supports WeChat too.

iOS users can now book a Didi ride by talking to Siri and can also hail cars within Apple’s Maps app. These features may have resulted from Apple’s billion-dollar deal with Didi Chuxing in April, although it would be smart business even if the companies weren’t working together. If you want more people to use Maps and Siri, it makes sense to integrate the country’s biggest ride-hailing app.

Siri also now supports sending messages through WeChat. Just talk to Siri, and your command is turned into a written message in the popular chat app.

The Siri integrations were Apple’s biggest China shout-outs of the night, and we can expect more to come – say, ordering food via Ele.me, or buying goods on Taobao. But they weren’t the only mentions of China during the presentation – the company also announced Chinese-language support for Apple Watch “scribbles” (i.e. writing with your finger on the watch face), and China support for its phone’s new scam-detecting features.

Apple hasn’t had an easy 2016 in China. It saw lackluster sales in the early part of the year and watched as its iBooks and iTunes Movies stores were shut down by regulators. But it’s not all bad news. The brand has been expanding its store presence in the country like wildfire and – if WWDC is any guide – its developers are doubling down on what Chinese users need.

iOS 10 will launch globally in the fall.