Custom cursor
Juno
Download

Voice assistants

Juno vs Siri

Siri knows a fixed list of things and tells you it cannot do the rest. Juno does not have a list.

Almost everyone has asked a computer to do something out loud, and for most people that computer was Siri. It is the reference point, which makes it the fairest thing to measure Juno against.

Siri is genuinely good inside its boundaries. Timers, messages, calls, music, the weather, HomeKit, and anything an app has explicitly taught it through App Intents. Inside that set it is instant, it works on every Apple device, and it costs nothing.

The trouble is the edge of the set, which you meet constantly. Ask for something Apple did not build and you get a shrug and a web search. Siri cannot help with that. Here is what I found on the web. Juno has no such boundary, because it is not matching your words against a list of known requests. It looks at the screen and operates the app the way you would.

Side by side

  • How it decides what to do

    Juno
    Reads the screen and works out the steps

    Siri
    Matches your words to a built-in intent

  • Apps it can act in

    Juno
    Any app on screen

    Siri
    Apple's own, plus apps that added App Intents

  • When it does not know how

    Juno
    Looks at the screen and tries

    Siri
    Offers a web search

  • Reminders, notes, calendar events

    Juno
    Yes, by working the app

    Siri
    Yes, instantly and natively

  • Drafting an email

    Juno
    Writes it in your mail client, using what is on screen

    Siri
    Dictates a basic one

  • Multi step work across apps

    Juno
    Yes, from one sentence

    Siri
    No

  • Understanding "this"

    Juno
    Yes, it can see what you are looking at

    Siri
    No, it cannot see your screen

  • Speed on the things it knows

    Juno
    Slower, it has to look and think

    Siri
    Instant

  • Devices

    Juno
    Mac only, macOS 14+

    Siri
    iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch, HomePod, CarPlay

  • Hands free

    Juno
    Yes, wake word

    Siri
    Yes, wake word

  • Cost

    Juno
    Free app, you bring the model

    Siri
    Free

  • Where your voice goes

    Juno
    Stays on the Mac, local Whisper

    Siri
    Much on device, some to Apple

Where Siri is the better pick

  • Speed, on everything it already knows. Setting a timer by voice is instant and always will be.
  • It is on every Apple device you own, including the ones with no screen.
  • Free, with no model behind it to pay for.
  • Deterministic. The same phrase does the same thing, which matters more than people admit.
  • Phone calls, messages, music, timers and HomeKit. Juno is not trying to replace any of that.
  • It is already installed and needs no permissions conversation.

Where Juno pulls ahead

  • No fixed list. If you can do it with a mouse and keyboard, it can attempt it.
  • It works in the apps you actually work in, including Figma, Slack, Xcode and Notion, none of which Siri can operate.
  • It can see your screen, so this and that and the one below mean something.
  • One sentence can cross four apps, and it keeps going until the job is finished.
  • It does not punt to a web search when the request gets interesting.
  • Escape stops it mid action, companion mode watches without clicking, and every action is logged.

The Siri list, and what Juno does with it

Reminders, notes, calendar events, a quick calculation, a draft email: Siri does all of these natively and instantly, and Juno gets to the same place a different way, by opening the app and working it like you would. That is slower and we are not going to pretend otherwise. What you gain is that the same sentence keeps working when the request leaves the list. Add a reminder to chase the invoice is a Siri request. Find the unpaid invoices in my mail, add a reminder for each one, and put the totals in the spreadsheet is not, and never will be, because nobody can pre-build an intent for every shape a request might take.

Why Apple cannot simply fix this

Siri's limits are structural rather than a lack of effort. It acts through intents that each app must publish, so its reach is the sum of what developers chose to expose, and most never exposed anything. Juno works the other side of the glass. It reads the interface and drives the mouse and keyboard, so an app does not have to cooperate, or even know it is there. That is also the honest tradeoff: an app cannot help Juno, but it cannot stop it either, which is why Juno asks for permissions Siri does not need.

Keep Siri. Add the part it never had.

This is not a replacement. Siri stays the fastest way to set a timer, send a text and turn the lights off, on every device you own. What it has never had is the ability to look at what is in front of you and work through something real. That is the whole of what Juno adds, and it is the reason the answer stops being sorry, I cannot help with that.

Questions people ask

Is Juno a replacement for Siri?
No, and it is only on the Mac. Siri remains better at the things it was built for, and it is on your phone, watch and speakers. Juno covers what Siri refuses: operating real apps, reading the screen, and finishing multi step work.
Can Juno set reminders and create calendar events like Siri?
Yes, by opening Reminders or Calendar and working them the way you would. Siri is faster at it because it goes through a native intent. Juno's advantage is that it does not stop when the request grows past a single reminder.
Why can Siri not just control any app?
Because it acts through App Intents that each developer has to publish, and most never did. Siri's reach is the sum of what apps opted into. Juno reads the interface instead, so cooperation is not required.
Is Juno private compared with Siri?
Juno's dictation runs locally through Whisper, so your voice never leaves the Mac. Apple processes a lot of Siri on device too, and sends some to its servers. The difference is the agent: while a task runs, Juno sends screenshots to the model provider you chose, and does not keep them.
Does Juno work hands free like Hey Siri?
Yes. Set a wake word and speak the task. You can also route different wake words to different things, so one starts dictation and another starts a task.

Free, and the source is public. macOS 14+.

Download Juno